Take Informed Action

At Truth In Government, we believe in action and that action should be grounded in knowledge. Anyone reading news or blogs knows that Americans are waking up and taking action based on their principles. It’s tempting to be caught up in the latest scandal, political gossip, or headline news and not take the time to check up on how your government spends your money and reports to you about it.

If you are energized by the Truth In Government message, take action.  Participation is contagious. Here’s a list of suggestions for developing your knowledge base and getting involved:

1. Learn about the details of the budgeting, accounting and reporting process, which you can get a quick overview of here on TruthInGovernment.org.
2. USA Today's "Where Your Money Goes" offers an interactive graphic tool that allows you to enter your salary and see how much goes to federal taxes and how the state and federal governments spend your money.  The tool also shows how that income compares with previous tax and withholding scenarios when adjusted for inflation, and what the tax rates and spending priorities once were. 



3. Find out what programs are getting money from the government and by what percentage. Do you agree with how they are currently spending it?  The USAspending.gov site is a free, searchable website that obtains its data largely from the Federal Procurement Data System, which contains information about federal contracts; and the Federal Assistance Award Data System, which contains information about federal financial assistance such as grants, loans, insurance, and direct subsidies such as Social Security.
4. How do Congressional members spend money themselves? Since June 2009, the Statement of Disbursements (SOD), a quarterly public report of all receipts and expenditures for Members of Congress, Committees, Leadership, House Officers and Offices of the House of Representatives, has been published online.
5. Identify and understand the gimmicks covered in my book that Congress uses in order to balance the books in its favor and increase the debt. Click here to download the first chapter!
6. Keep track of your Congressional representative in the House and Senate and how they spend your money by their voting records. Congress.org lets you track your Senators’ and representatives’ votes by email.
7. Commit to learning more on a continuing basis and stay educated about where your money goes and how government is operating. Once you develop the habit of a regular review, it’s easier to stay informed and make decisions about where to invest your political capital (your vote).
8. Encourage others to inform themselves. We live in a complex world and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by information overload and our daily workloads. However, there are many ways we can all contribute to making future generations understand their role in a democratic system. Whether you have the time or inclination to be an activist or not, you can do things on a local level in your own homes, schools, and towns.
9. Learn what your schools are actually teaching (not just the curriculum) about  economics and government.  Write to your school board, your governor, your state department of education, and your local newspapers about the need for better education in government budgeting and spending. The Federal Reserve offers a Fed Challenge to high school students to interest youth in monetary policy and economics.  A similar program about fiscal policy could be easily and inexpensively be established.
10. Visit www.truthingovernment.org regularly for updates.
11. Help us to promote education about fiscal responsibility: consider a tax-deductible contribution and click on the "Donate" button on the right column of this page.