I suppose that puts me not only in the tiny minority, but also in the loony bin in some people's book. However, if Americans are serious about deficit reduction, taxes need to go up. And why not? The deficit exists because Americans like the things the federal government spends money on.
Washington D.C. is spending OUR money!!!!!We've all heard this refrain shouted in one form or another by the Tea Party. We've also heard it from Republicans, Libertarians, and probably from disgruntled independents and even Democrats. I imagine it's been said since the 16th Amendment passed. It goes over great with pissed off voters. And who better to demonize than the federal government? Especially when the shit talker is running for federal office?
Washington D.C. is spending OUR money!!!!!It gives rise to a couple bullshit assumptions. First the "our money" one. The 16th Amendment empowered the federal government to levy and collect income taxes. Don't like it? Sponsor an amendment to repeal it. Otherwise, fucking get over it. Tax rates or progressive taxation are objects for reasonable debate, but matters for another day. There will always be people who dispute the government's authority to tax. On the practical level, the federal government would collapse deprived of income tax revenue. Like it or not, the government does the real heavy lifting in our society, performing unattractive, unprofitable tasks that are necessary to keep the country functioning. At any rate, the Amendment is there, therefore the Constitutional authority is there.
Washington D.C. is spending OUR money!!!!!The main assumption created by this phrase is that Washington D.C. is some alternate dimension netherworld occupied by aliens from Galgamek 9. Alright that's hyperbole. My point is, that the right and Tea Party love using phrases like "out of touch", "career politician", "beltway insider" etc. to paint our democratically elected officials as elitists breaking open the national piggy bank to raid the treasury for the fuck of it. When in truth, most of what legislators do is carry out the will of the voters, or at least get money or projects for their states or districts. Think about it, even if their vote is strictly along party lines, it's a safe bet that many of the people who elected them would support that legislation. Okay, I'm generalizing. Even I don't agree with everything the left supports. But it's still a probable for instance, that a democrat is going to favor cap and trade legislation, while a republican will likely support the ban on partial birth abortions (heck even I like that one).
During the debate over health insurance reform, Sean Hannity constantly referred to the package as "governing against the will of the people." This was in reference to public opinion that was slowly turning against the bill. No it wasn't against the peoples' will Sean. It was against yours. One of the big planks Obama ran on was reforming the system. He was very clear about that, and it was part of the reason so many people voted for him. The polls Hannity referred to were conducted by credible sources. I don't dispute the results.
But I would point out that it took nearly a year of rancorous debate, conservative efforts in Congress to gut the bill, and Fox News' and AM hate radio's poisoning the airwaves to taint opinion of the package. Some liberals, unhappy about the elimination of the public option, found themselves shoulder to shoulder with right wing fruit loops screaming about death panels. In the beginning, there was more support for the effort, but as the debate drug on, opponents continued to sling mud, some liberals checked out angered by compromises required to move it along. The public got tired of hearing about it. And what do you know, opinion soured.
Sorry for the tangent, but it illustrates my point. The country elected Obama on his promise to do something about health care. And surprise surprise, here comes Congress with just such a fix. The same with the stimulus bill. Proposing and supporting these things doesn't make D.C. look out of touch, it shows them following through on their campaign promises.
I won't get into a tit-for-tat about who are good legislators and who aren't. Obviously some are better than others. If your senator or Congressperson is a corrupt shithead, vote them out. But don't vote them in and then act like they became puppets ala some Invasion of the Body Snatchers plot. You fucking put them there.
Washington D.C. is spending OUR money!!!!!This brings me to my main point: the debt and deficit exist because American people like the things the government spends money on BUT don't want to pay for them.
In my mind, this point is essential. If Americans can understand we are responsible for the debt and deficit, it will be easier for us to take responsibility and pay the goddamn bill.
Here is a chart of US federal government spending for 2009.
As it shows, 62% of the federal budget is dedicated to defense, social security, medicare and medicaid (with another 5% to interest on our debt). That's over 2/3 of the budget.
The biggest and easiest target is defense. 2009 spending on defense was $782 billion, accounting for 23% of the budget. Good luck finding a Tea Partyer who is willing to admit that our defense spending is UNHOLY. We spend more on defense than the rest of the world put together. Even if we cut defense by 50% we're still WAY ahead of China and Russia combined (estimated $159 billion).
The idiocy in the debate over the New START treaty fleshes out my point. We've been working with the Soviets/Russians over the last 5 decades to pare down our respective nuclear arsenals. Ronald Reagan, the GOD of neoconservative thought lauded the possibility of world free from nuclear weapons.
The Soviet Union fell. But the talks on nuclear arms reductions continued. Now here we sit, with Russia slowly adjusting to a capitalist economy. They're not a threat, they want to sell the world crude oil and get in on capitalism.
Similarly China does not represent a credible threat. They're our greatest trade partner. Why in the fuck would they attack us? They need us to buy their stuff! The right cluelessly claims that they will take over our country to pay back their loans. Guess what right wing? Don't bet on it. China owns around 900 billion in US treasury bonds. Not chump change by anyone's calculation, but less than 10% of our total debt, and less than 1/4 of our debt that is owned outside the country. (look at Wall Street for the other $9 trillion)
At any rate, our military occupies a HUGE number on the country's balance sheet. And Republicans will be the last ones to cut the defense budget. So fuck it, the party of so called "fiscal conservatism" has no problem picking up the tab for the most expensive war machine in the history of the planet.
Next big target: Social Security.
FDR rolled SS out in 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression fearful that senior citizens, no longer able to work, would languish in poverty or worse in their remaining years. This was of course met with howls of socialism, gnashing teeth and a fuckload of law suits. At the time, the Four Horseman of the USSC were busy pissing all over New Deal Legislation. After Roosevelt shut them up with his court packing plan, Social Security was in the clear.
The program was (and is) a huge success by giving people enough income to survive on after they retire. Throughout its existence Social Security has enjoyed broad based bipartisan support. It's true conservatives have had their eye on it for awhile, but won't dare move due to the vicious backlash by voters if they mention making cuts. Conservatives are so beholden to their SS receiving voter base that GWB passed the popular (and unfunded) Medicare part D drug program. Seniors loved it and the deficit continued to grow.
But that was then, what about the current political climate? Fucking forget about it. Cut social security and you'll see an army of Rascals slowly rolling toward the Capitol carrying a million pissed off seniors. The Tea Party (whose membership is largely seniors) would go fucking berserk. And honestly, why shouldn't they? You're talking about people who paid into the system their whole working lives. Obviously I don't agree with the Tea Party on a lot of things, but give seniors their due.
Washington D.C. is spending OUR money!!!!!That brings us to the last of the three: Medicare and medicaid. Medicare was signed into law in 1965. Like Social Security before it, was greeted with much fanfare along with much gnashing of teeth, cries of socialism etc.. Leading the charge were Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Barry Goldwater and Bob Dole.
Reagan was particularly notable for this bit of conservative tripe "[I]f you don’t [stop Medicare] and I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free."
Damn, here we are 45 years later and somehow we're not Communist heathens. I guess jellybean boy wasn't right about everything (or anything but don't get me started).
At any rate, Medicare came into being and like Social Security was a huge success enjoying broad based bipartisan support. Also like Social Security, conservatives have had their eyes on getting rid of it. Again, no sane conservative would ever challenge it due to its popularity and success. Again, the Tea Party would go Reagan-McNeil-in-the-Exorcist if conservatives tried to gut Medicare.
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So here we are at the end. We have a huge budget deficit and a lot of federal spending on programs that Americans like. We could eliminate or gut those programs. We could also properly fund them.
In a few days, we'll seat the 112th Congress, featuring a Republican controlled House. They've championed the "cut taxes and spending" movement, but have been frighteningly silent about where to make cuts. Why? Because they know the truth: we like our yummy socialist goodies so long as they're free.
Raising taxes seem like the only sane answer. We like the programs federal spending funds, we benefit from them.
Now it's time to belly up to the bar and PAY THE FUCKING TAB.
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