[Vision2020] Partiers Finally Wake Up to Uncle Sam's Debt

[Tom Hansen]

Courtest of today's (July 2, 2009) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Partiers finally wake up to Uncle Sam's debt
By William Brock

Independence Day is fast approaching, so if you're not robotically
igniting fireworks, this might be a good time to reflect on life in these
United States.

According to some participants of Saturday's Taxed Enough Already (TEA)
rally in Pullman, Americans are losing their grasp on liberty, the
Constitution and our system of free enterprise.

"People need to know what's going on and how close we are to being a
socialized country," one TEA Party participant told the Daily News.

Maybe she was talking about Medicare, or Medicaid, or that
money-for-nothing retirement program known as Social Security. Or maybe
not. But c'mon, is life in the U.S.A., as we know it, really in jeopardy?

I spent some time behind the Iron Curtain in 1981, long before the Soviet
Union imploded, so I have an inkling of what actual socialism looks like.
Trust me, capitalist enterprise in contemporary America is in no danger of
being eclipsed by socialism.

Granted, these are hard economic times, but our national cup is well over
half full. It's not overflowing like it was three years ago, but many
Americans can quench their thirst for the good life. Ask around in
Bulgaria and you'll find most folks are still coming up dry.

I applaud the TEA Party people for their civic engagement, but there's a
Rip Van Winkle quality to their sudden activism.

If they're so concerned about fiscal responsibility in government, then
where were they during the golden fleece years from 2000 through 2006?
That's when Congress, ostensibly controlled by the party of fiscal
restraint, kept handing blank checks to a president who ran up the tab
like no one else in American history.

Where were the TEA Party people when America's foray into Iraq -
originally billed as revenue-neutral thanks to oil sales - began
incinerating hundreds of billions of our tax dollars?

Where were the TEA Party people when lack of financial oversight finally
caught up with, and hobbled, America's once-robust economy? My retirement
savings took a sickening dive when Wall Street tanked, and I'll bet yours
did too.

Our TEA Party pals doubtless were delighted with the 43rd president's zeal
for tax cuts. Most wage earners on the Palouse saw their taxes go down by
a few hundred bucks. It was welcome, but it also was a penny-wise,
pound-foolish way to squander the federal surplus that accumulated during
the late 1990s.

Those tax cuts were great for seriously wealthy people, but not for you,
or me, or anyone who punches a time clock.

And now, thanks to dubious leadership, America is deeply in debt. The
interest we're paying on that debt is money that could have been spent to
reduce health care costs, or college tuition, or some other social good.

Instead, we're spending it on debt service. The lost opportunity costs are
similar to those resulting from credit card debt - you can't afford to buy
a big-screen TV, and Uncle Sam can't afford to solve pressing social
problems.

Our new president is trying to confront some of those problems. I wish him
luck, but I'm withholding applause until I see change I can believe in.

He started off in a deep hole, with the economy in full retreat and
expensive military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the Cat in
the Hat, he's juggling those challenges while simultaneously grappling
with a difficult national issue: the high cost of health care.

Only now do the TEA Party people pipe up with their faux grass-roots
activism. Their talking points - the same from Seattle to Miami - didn't
bubble up from below, they were handed down from above. Just call the TV
stations, wave a few signs and, presto, instant public indignation.

These folks were played like a fiddle by the last occupant of the Oval
Office. As conservatives continue to lose the political high ground, the
TEA Party "patriots" are being played yet again.

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THANK YOU . . . THANK YOU . . . THANK YOU, Mr. Brock, for putting into
print what so many of us have been thinking.

We look forward to reading more and more of your commentary.

Seeya at Farmers' Market and the Independence Day ceremonies in Friendship
Square, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown