Posted by
Patrick Henry on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 9:53:11 PM
In an interesting turn of events, the current debt ceiling debate has turned, once
again, into a debate over taxes. It began as a straight trade: a ceiling increase in
return for budget cuts. Then Obama said there would be no budget cuts without
a huge tax increase. As it has played out, Obama and Democrats are offering
phantom cuts, most of which would not materialize for years, for a four trillion
dollar tax increase PLUS a four trillion dollar debt ceiling increase. Why the
GOP would give in to such a bait-and-switch is beyond me.
But upon careful reflection, I understand it. Barack Obama is hooked on
taxing, spending, big government and encouraging citizen dependency. Since
he has never run so much as a hot dog stand himself, he knows only the
stale Keynesian economic model. He has no creativity, no flexibility, no
entrepreneurial spirit and no personal ingenuity when it comes to the debt,
the deficit, jobs and the economy. He once accused some small town
Pennsylvanians of "bitterly clinging to their guns and religion." It seems
now that the shoe is on the other foot, it is Obama who is bitterly clinging
to a failed economic philosophy like some ancient religion whose gods
are fairy tales. He insists on raising taxes and spending profligately
because he doesn't know what else to do.
But it runs deeper. Obama has sold out to left-wing academic doctrine
that believes there is no problem that cannot be solved by bigger govern-
ment. If that were true, the debt, which has increased by a whopping
35% on Obama's watch alone, should have allowed him to build a
government plenty big enough to reverse the 7.2% unemployment that
existed when he took office. Instead, even with the ballooning size
and cost of government, statistical unemployment has spiked to 9.2%
while actual unemployment has passed 17%. If throwing money at
a problem solves it, then why has the huge increase in government
spending that included a near trillion-dollar stimulus plan not solved the
problem?
Barack Obama is the proverbial "one trick pony." Taxing and
spending, creating out-of-cotrol debt and deficit, bloating the
government almost beyond recognition and burdening future
generations with an entirely unsustainable set of entitlements that
resemble Ponzi schemes more by the day, are literally all Obama
knows to do. The man is clueless, inexperienced in the real world,
an ivory tower egghead who can't balance a checkbook. He must
raise taxes because he can't do anything else.
And so America faces a truly pathetic situation, in which the
Republican House of Representatives is dug in to do exactly what
an overwhelming 2010 electoral mandate sent them there to do;
Hold the line on taxes and stop the bizarre binge spending. And
the overmatched pathetic president is howling at the moon about
raising taxes because he doesn't know what else to do. Meanwhile,
the rest of us ride in the wagon that is headed off a cliff.
What is the answer? Some say compromise and raise the ceiling.
Where then does it stop? Eighteen trillion? Twenty-one trillion?
Because each time the can is kicked down the road, the drop off
the cliff becomes steeper and the consequences deadlier. It's time
to stand our ground and pay the piper. Obama must be stopped
and stopped now, or there will be no country to hand off to his
successor. Continuing to pass deficit budgets predictably continues
to grow the deficit. We are in a hole, and it is way past time to
stop digging. Tell your representative to stand his or her ground.
REAL CUTS AND NO NEW TAXES, OR ELSE NO DEBT
CEILING INCREASE.