The debate over the deficit and debt ceiling has been dominated by talk of spending cuts without consideration of what spending is really necessary to maintain the United States as a great nation. The right wing falsely equates freedom with cutting government spending. They believe that we could have our economic prosperity without most of the infrastructure and benefits which we obtain by pooling resources for the public good.
Despite false comparisons to the founding fathers by misappropriating terms such as the Tea Party, the vision of the right wing is to turn the United States into a banana republic which, while it might have a smaller government, would be dominated by a handful of large corporations and religious zealots. It would not resemble anything which most Americans would desire. Such a society would definitely not be more free in any sensible use of the word.
Thomas Friedman wrote on this topic today. While I question the value of some of his suggestions, he makes some important points. He ended by pointing out the toxic message from the Tea Party:
Anyone who says that either entitlement reform or tax increases are off the table does not have a plan for sustaining American greatness and passing on the American dream to the next generation.
Alas, that is the Tea Party. It is so lacking in any aspiration for American greatness, so dominated by the narrowest visions for our country and so ignorant of the fact that it was not tax cuts that made America great but our unique public-private partnerships across the generations. If sane Republicans do not stand up to this Hezbollah faction in their midst, the Tea Party will take the G.O.P. on a suicide mission.
Unfortunately the Tea Party risks not only taking the Republican Party on a suicide mission, but risks taking the entire country down with them.
The Tea Party vs. The American Dream #p2 #p21 #topprog http://t.co/GDBV9tN
RT @ronchusid: The Tea Party vs. The American Dream #p2 #p21 #topprog http://t.co/sytL3Tt
Excellent quote. The Tea Party states they are for the constitution, but yet, they don’t even know the constitution. As Rachel Maddow pointed out, if the Republicans and the Tea Party were for less government, then why have 6 Republican governed states passed legislation to attempt to end abortion rights? Is that really less government or have they got the ideology that more is less? I don’t even think they understand that it’s less is more.
How come I can’t find a graphic update to the following link? http://www.lafn.org/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html No doubt the creator of this chart showing how Bush’s deficit spending towered over all his predecessors would also want to graphically show how Obama’s spending towers over Bush spending. What difference does it make if we raise taxes or not when we have politicians addicted to promising and spending for more things than this nation can afford? Where the Carter era tax rates enough to match the spending by government? Even if we could “close all the loop holes” which I would like, but personally believe it will never happen, our nation will its present course of economic ruin unless the government stops running deficits all the time. (All props to the great Bill Clinton here with just a little bit of help from some Republicans for managing to do just that) ….”pooling resources for the public good”..err, ah don’t you mean pooling good PUBLIC resources for the Wells Fargo, the auto manufacturer labor unions, and the Citigroup? Let the government continue with this awesome Obamacare that everyone is raving about if you want and continue to save all that money from curtailing military operations, spend government money on whatever those geniuses in Washington think is most important but spend only what they bring in. You can’t put a fire out with gasoline and you can’t fix Bush’s overspending with Obama’s overspending.
Your link doesn’t work, but I bet it is one of the many erroneous charts being passed around by right wingers which falsely attribute Bush’s spending to Obama. Obama’s spending is trivial compared to Bush’s. Obama’s economic plans will reduce the deficit. Republican plans will not.
Pooling resources for Wells Fargo and Citigroup is what Republicans do. When I refer to pooling resources for the public good I mean putting money into infrastructure, which this country did in the past to build the economy. Wasteful spending while neglecting infrastructure is what got us into this mess.
I think most of these tea party folks were and are for our wars in the middle east. If im not mistaken these wars are our lagest expenditures, certainly more then public health care. I was ten when the first gulf war broke out and it seemed like a bad idea to me then. These people motivation are suspect at best and treasonous at worst. Of coures we have to raise taxes with all this reckless military spending, and the people that are crying about it the most are the ones that brought it apon us.
The link (now apparently non-functional) didn’t have Obama’s data, it was an emphasis on how deficit spending tended to be higher with Republicans in the White house, but the many emphasis of the graphic was showing how the 2nd Bush ran up a trillion dollar deficit in a single year, that single year towered over the previous. What I wanted to see was while it showed Bush in a well deserved negative light, to also update that with the 4 trillion deficit Obama has done in just over two years and appears well on pace to hit 6T by the 3 year mark. While it probably is fair to say a majority of people who call themselves Tea Party members would have military cuts last on their list of things to cut, there are a decent number, and some of them prominent , for example Radio talk show host Jason Lewis strongly advocates essentially “declare victory” pull up stakes and come home from both Afghanistan and Iraq. I’m not arguing about Republicans being terribly wasteful spenders, I’m just 100% convinced we have to stop running deficits. I don’t see Obama putting the brakes on spending, quite the opposite, I know I’m just one voter, but I’m going to vote and scream to stop the spending until they stop or until our money becomes as valuable as some 3rd world currency.
Remember, Bush kept much of his spending off the books. Much of Obama’s spending is a consequence of more honest accounting, and of spending based upon bills passed before he took office by Bush and the Republicans. Obama’s own spending is quite spending compared to big spenders like Bush and Reagan. The deficit is caused by a combination of the Bush tax cuts and Bush/Republican spending–not by spending from Obama.
HOW DO I CORRECT MY STATEMENT AFTER I WROTE IT OH WELL ,SORRY I BEEN SO UPSET NOT THINKING LATELY. WHAT I WANT TO SAY IS THAT WE NEED PEOPLE WHO ARE ABLE TO VOTE FOR A AMERICAN DREAM IN CONGRESS AND GET RID OF ALL THESE SELFISH PEOPLE WHO ARE HARMING OUR COUNTRY AND AMERICANS . WHAT WRONG WITH OUR REPUBLICAINS THAT WANT TO TAKE SOCIAL SECURITY FROM SENIORS AND EVEN OUR MILITARY PAY. ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS STOP THE SPENIDNG IN AFGANISTAN AND PAKSITAN. AND WHAT THE USE TO SPEND MONEY IN MEXICO TELL ME ? WHEN YOU BALANCE A CHECK YOU DONT GIVE OUT MONEY IF YOU DONT HAVE IT IN A ACCOUNT IT ONLY MAKES SENSE . WHY NOT LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE MAYBE WE NEED TO DO LIKE THE OTHER COUNTRIES ARE AND GET IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND DO SOME SHOUTING OF OUR OWN. WHUY SHOULD CONGRESS GET PAID FOR ALL YEAR WHEN THERE ON VACATION MOST OF THE TIME . PAY THEM ONLY WHEN THEY ARE WORKING LIKE US. AND WHY ARE THEY GETTING BONUSES WHEN THERE NO MONEY ? AND THEY HAVE TO RIGHT TO SOCIAL SECURITY IT WHAT AMERICANS WORKED FOR? I RUN INTO PEOPLE WHO NEVER WORKED IN USA AND THEY GET SOCIAL SECURITY HOW IS THAT ? BECAUSE THEY GIVE IT TO THOSE AFGANI TRANSLATERS WHO ARE NOT AMERICANS AND THEY GET ANNESTY IN USA AND GET SOCIAL SECURITY . WHY ? WE NEED TO STOP GIVING TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT AMERICANS. OUR SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE NEEDS TO BE STRONGER ,DO FINGERPRINTS OR GET STRONG AGAINST ILLEAGALS STEALING OUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS .