There’s a lot of media jabber these days about how the deficit spending of the Obama Administration is threatening the future of the next generations of Americans. Most people with a sense of reality and history, understand the difference between what Obama is doing and what his GOP and tea bagger critics are advocating.
There is a meaningful difference between Obama’s approach of deficit spending to save middle-class Americans through stimulus programs, and the GOP policy of deficit spending to further enrich 5% of the most affluent Americans. If by some miracle, we had been spared the GOP dominated 8 years of Bush/Cheney, we would have been able to save the economy from the criminal actions of Wall St AND fully fund universal health care with no deficit.
Remember that when the GOP took over the Presidency and Congress at the end of the Clinton Administration, there was a budget SURPLUS. If we take back the Bush tax cuts for the rich (which created no net job creation), the war in Iraq, the unfunded mandates of “No Child Left Behind” and Medicare Prescription Drug benefits, we would have approached the potential collapse of the economy under Bush with a $900 billion dollar SURPLUS.
If you want to define the bright lines between the Democrats and the GOP in terms of deficit spending, then it should only be fairly stated that the GOP spends money to enrich the rich, and Democrats spend money to rescue the economy. Liberal deficit spending may endanger the future of the next generation, but conservative deficit spending nearly destroyed the present. When it comes to fiscal policy, I would rather bet on the future of liberal deficits than the sure-fire destruction of Conservative deficits.
This brings us to the only apparent alternative to deficit spending: the fiscal agenda of the Tea baggers. Don’t let them hide behind flags or fool you with their rhetoric. The only result of their platform of an immediate elimination of deficit spending is anarchy. Over 75% of all cities would lose their fire and police departments, public education would be destroyed and infrastructure maintenance such as water purification and sewage treatment and road maintenance would be non-existent. Instead of drinking the cool-aid, the GOP wants to feed us tea.
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Tea is far too venerable a beverage to be used in the naming of GOP fiscal and other policies. It is the fuel upon which I run. I wish that Tequila had been chosen instead, for it is much more likely to cause the type of delusionary thinking required to go along with their programs.
That being said, one thing that I’ve always noticed is that a characteristic that stands out in Liberal economic policies is that they are “simple, but not easy”. A person can understand them and the logic is always straightforward. They’re hard to implement, however, because of the greed and fear of those who would impede the progress of human civilization.
Conservative policies, however, almost by definition, defy the very natural and healthy process of change. They are always “complex”. It’s difficult for any sane person to understand them because they are usually based upon some hidden agenda and are presented as “truths” that are actually carefully designed lies which are created for the purpose of manipulating others to go along with that hidden agenda. So, if they confuse you, THERE’S A REASON FOR THAT!
Then, of course, comes the piece de resistance…
…the conservatives can accuse you of being rather simple for not being able to “understand” their policies, you poor dear.
And so you must also have a great deal of inner confidence to see through them…and if you don’t, well…you might not. But it will feel so good when you’re finally “part of the crowd” and start saying that you understand them and go along with them.
Someone once said something like, “I don’t know whether to applaud with joy or cry for someone who has finally come to his senses”.
Either choice would be appropriate.
It’s a good thing to have sense.
But it hurts.
Especially when we have to witness the reactionary crap that is going on in this country as a result of the attempts of the courageous to try and fix it.
Patricia –
I liked your posting. It was interesting and well-written. Can I ask you, however, to consider modifying your approach? Paint with a smaller brush. Most reasonable folks would say most left-leaning agents of change care about justice, equality, and strengthening the Nation. I believe large numbers of right-leaning conservatives are driven by the same motivations. Speaking for some of them, I can tell you they believe that initiative, personal accountability, and enterprise were keys to making the US great. And they’re worried that those are under attack. Saying the resistance to leftish policies is driven by greed and fear isn’t fair.
In my view, it’s the extremists on the left and right who are the real threats. Rush Limbaugh. Michael Moore. The yelling. The lack of listening and understand. Four years ago, it was apoplectic reactions to the Bush Administration. Today, the opposite fringe camp is going berserk over the Obama Administration.
Some conservatives want to hear and understand the concerns of the Left (believe it or not). That’s really important. The sooner we realize we’re all in one boat, the sooner there will be more listening and less yelling. And the Nation will be better off! Oh, and thanks for listening.
No Child Left Behind is a joke, I suspect initially implemented as window dressing to make Bush look good while he and the other Republican tyrants did their other nonsense (tax cuts to the rich, etc.). The fact that anybody can be so delusional to think that implementing more standardized tests to improve education and achievement is funny and sad at the same time. Research has shown that how well kids do in school largely depends on the families they come from and especially if they are read to at home from an early age. Such kids are more likely, too, to engage in self-directed learning through informational books.
America is falling behind in education in so many ways. It doesn’t help that many teachers are shit-scared to teach evolution in science class because of backlash from parents, but that’s another post altogether…
Julie