In Defense of Earmarks

Earmarks, mandates by Congress that money be spent on specific projects, have become the great target of some fiscal conservtives. Ron Paul argues in favor of them.

Libertarian journalist Jonathan Rauch writes

Their budgetary impact is trivial in comparison with entitlements and other large programs. Obsessing about earmarks, indeed, has the perverse, if convenient, effect of distracting the country from its real spending problems, thus substituting indignation for discipline.

And Jesse Walker, another libertarian journalist, writes

Earmarks' critics are right to be vigilant for pork, and -- more important -- for the logrolling that often accompanies it. But they might want to spare a little more ire for military and entitlement spending.