Jamelle Bouie says conservatives ranting against earmarks are really promoting big government.
But for all of their yelling about small government and a broken political process, conservatives seem to have missed an important point. Despite their modern association with corruption, earmarks are a good expression of the Madisonian idea that parochial concerns deserve a say in the regular functioning of government. As political scientists Sean Kelly and Scott Frisch point out in their defense of earmarks, Cheese Factories on the Moon, “This is how the people are able to have their issues addressed through federal spending.” The Constitution gives Congress sole authority over spending, with the president taking a supporting role — to sign or veto bills. But in practice, the president guides the spending priorities of Congress; the White House sets the agenda with a budget proposal and the legislature modifies it and votes on it. Agencies then have a lot of control over their allocated funds. Without earmarks, most individual members of Congress would have very little input — other than their vote — on what the government spends and how it’s spent. Small-bore projects which are nonetheless valuable in communities would likely get lost in the shuffle.
