Here at shocked.org we generally cover the negative and shady aspects of our government because, let’s face it, they suck. But when we come across politicians looking out for the best interests of the hardworking taxpayers, we will celebrate them with applause.

Today, Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Ok) took the floor today and gave a refreshing take on the remaining TARP/bailout funds (YouTube video below).

Some of the smack down points:

Furthermore, is the United States Congress as an institution prepared to say “yes” to $350 billion in deficit spending simply because we receive a “letter of assurances?” A bunch of promises on paper is not sufficient justification for this institution to let go of the purse strings on $350 billion in taxpayer money.

Finally, as a fiscal Conservative, the thing that really concerns me about the $700 billion bailout is that it permanently changed the perception about what is “big” in big government from now on. What’s another $50 billion here, or $100 billion there, after we give $700 billion to banks? What’s the big deal with $1 trillion dollar deficits, or $800 billion stimulus packages, or multibillion healthcare proposals, or whatever plan is dreamed up around here to spend the taxpayers’ money once we gave $700 billion to an unelected bureaucrat with no oversight? We have completely lost our perspective.

We are now anticipating an astounding $1.2 trillion deficit for this year alone – and that’s before any accounting of the roughly $800 billion stimulus proposal. This truly massive debt accumulation poses a serious threat to future stability and economic growth. We’re on track to have a budget deficit this year that exceeds the size of the entire federal budget only a few years ago. However, we can immediately make progress on reducing that deficit amount by not releasing the $350 billion. That is something that deserves sufficient debate.

He even dropped some mind-boggling historical numbers:

I will close by noting the cost of the following defining events in the 20th Century of our shared history and compare them to the $700 billion bailout to hopefully bring a little perspective to the debate over the request for the second half of the $700 billion bailout:

• The Marshall Plan: Cost $12.7 billion at the time, it’s cost today: $115.3 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost $36.4 billion at the time, it’s cost today: $237 billion
• Korean War: Cost $54 billion at the time, it’s cost today: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost $32 billion at the time, it’s cost today: $500 billion (Est)
• Vietnam War: Cost $111 billion at the time, it’s cost today: $698 billion

Thank you Senator. +1 for you.

His video on the subject here: