Boehner's Dilemma

You just can't get there from here, Mr. Boehner.

You say the first thing you want to do in 2011 is have the Republican controlled House of Representatives cut $100 billion in spending from the federal budget. When asked for specific areas he plans to cut, he says he will start with the budget of Congress -- in other words, the legislative branch. So here's what you need to know. If he succeeded in cutting out the entire legislative branch, that is, fire all 535 members of Congress and their staffs, and all the people who work for them at the Library of Congress and turn off all the lights, he would barely save $4 billion. So, John, you have only $96 billion more to eliminate in order to fulfill your pledge. YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE, JOHN, SO PLEASE QUIT TRYING TO SELL THIS CLAPTRAP TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Until members of Congress tell you that are seriously ready to address the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and that old sacred cow, Defense Spending, there will not be a serious attempt to get federal spending under control. He knows it, his Republican members know it, and now you know it. When are we going to stand up in Town Hall Meetings and tell these people we are NOT BUYING ANY MORE of their empty politically expedient promises?

And when are we going to tell them to quit trying to return us to the time of Washington and Jefferson, a time when we had the interests of only 4 million citizens to consider. Today we have nearly 309 million citizens, according to the latest Census, and their interests are diverse, their problems complex, and our nation's role on the international stage has changed.

Mr. Boehner, do you really want to help?

Get off the stage and take your little tea party with you.

Let some grown ups, willing to take the political heat take your place, do the hard work, make the difficult decisions and get our nation's house in order. That's what Thomas Jefferson and George Washington would want you to do.

"Cut the deficit, cut my taxes, but don't spend less."

It now appears the Obama health care proposal is being watered down even as you and I sit in front of our computers. It appears Congress will exempt about 83% of small businesses from compliance with the new law. I’m sure those 83% of small businesses will, in the spirit of true altruism, offer health coverage to their employees anyway, aren’t you?

In the end, the new law may not offer much reform....but maybe that's what Americans think they want right now. It seems government can't get our attention until disaster strikes us and then government has 15 minutes to straighten out the problem or we dump 'em.

Is this a great country or what!

The NYTimes/CBS poll soon to be released, perhaps today, will say:

"Most Americans continue to want the federal government to focus on reducing the budget deficit rather than spending money to stimulate the national economy... Yet at the same time, most oppose some proposed solution for decreasing it."

"Fifty-six percent of respondents said that they were not willing to pay more in taxes in order to reduce the deficit, and nearly as many said they were not willing for the government to provide fewer services in areas such as health care, education and defense spending."

Think about our recent history on health care reform. When the Clinton team proposed it, all the stakeholders opposed it and it went down in quick defeat. If the Obama effort at true reform goes down with a watered down version of virtually no changes, that will be another setback. And the Republicans want nothing but the status quo because the “free market will solve everything.”

In the meantime, the American people are seeing their health insurance premiums increase in double digits every year while inflation is an anemic 1.5% to 3%. What sort of civic mindedness thinks that’s a better state of affairs than we would get with the Obama plan?

I don’t know about you but I would gladly pay more in taxes if it would result in bringing my insurance increases down to ….oh, say….8-9% annually (which is itself outrageous).

I fear we are reaching a state of national mindset that will not allow anyone or any institution to govern effectively. It was a great republic at one time. Now it's just overweight and selfish...and demanding more and more for less and less.

Sanctimonious Republicans

Who are these people, the John Boehner’s and the Chuck Grassley’s of this world who claim to be outraged by the current level of spending proposed by the Obama Administration.

Where was their outrage when Ronald Reagan quadrupled the national debt during the eight years of his administration, when the common and accepted practice of the GOP was to “borrow and spend?”

Where was their outrage when George W. Bush was setting new spending records in virtually every category of federal spending during his eight years? Nearly $1 trillion (and possibly more) in direct outlays spent on “nation building” in Iraq, a record for our country; approval of a record cost for prescription drug benefit for seniors, exceeding $1 trillion (Bush, of course, miscalculated the cost at only $400 billion); Bush also proposed a record budget of $3.1 trillion for the U.S. in fiscal year 2009; finally, as Bush left office, the nation’s debt was rising at $2 billion per day! Where was the outrage of Grassley and Boehner then?

Hmmmmm……?????

Their silence was as deafening then as their hypocrisy is today.

And therefore, it should come as no surprise that their lamentations about President Obama’s initiatives to stabilize the economy and restore its strength have no credibility with the American people and are being roundly ignored – as they should be.