Why do we waste so much money as a country?

Just from taxing gasoline alone in the past year the U.S has generated 35 Billion dollars. By just taxing ciggerates the government brought in 15 Billion dollars. Imagine if weed was legalized and taxed. There are lots of arguments on taxes, but the way I see it the less tax income the more seriously the government will take spending money because ![]they only get a limited supply. That is why we are 21 trillion dollars in debt. They tax the crap out of us and think that since they make so much money off us they can borrow money for one more tank or one more social welfare program. I am not against having a military or having some social welfare programs, but when it buries us it debt enough is enough. Republicans blame democrats for the debt because of social welfare programs while they spend tons on the military. The fact is both parties are guilty of this. So how are we suppose to stop all of this madness? There are lots of answers to that question, but I think we should focus on one. We need to get some sort of law passed that stops congressmen from taking money that is offered from corporations. How do we do this? We obviously cant run it through congress they would never pass a bill like this. We would have to go around it. There is only one other way the American people can go around the government. A petition. I know that many of you who are reading this have great doubts, but right now I think it is our best shot. I did some exploring and I found Represent.us, they have people from all sides of the political spectrum trying to get petitions out to make some sort of change. I went and already signed a petition that supports an anti-corruption act, why don't you?
https://represent.us/