Here’s a little reality check for all the hysteria out there
I’ve seen.
Democrats will continue to control the presidency and the US
Senate.
Republicans will continue to control the US House, almost
60% of the governorships and, quite significantly, almost 65% of the state
legislative chambers.
We’re not suddenly lurching toward a Democratic Party
dictatorship. The two corporate controlled parties have a pretty good split on
power amongst themselves.
(And if you believe Republicans and Democrats are two
different social issues-based factions of the same corporate-controlled party,
then it’s been that way since Clinton’s reign. Obama’s re-election changes this
in no way.)
To all the people who didn’t care about the debt/deficit during Bush’s reign and suddenly got all worked up once a Democrat entered the White House, here’s a little reminder of 8th grade social studies.
All federal spending bills originate in the House of
Representatives.
The president can submit a budget but it’s nothing more than
a suggestion. No budgets get passed without the approval of the House. The
House will remain comfortably controlled by... Republicans.
The national debt increased from nothing to a little under
$5 trillion in the 220 or so years leading up to 1995. Though it started
increasing consistently during the Reagan administration in the 1980s.
Since 1995, the national debt has increased by $12 trillion
in a mere 18 years.
The Republicans have controlled the House for 14 of those 18 years. The Democrats have controlled the presidency for 10 of those 18 years.
So if you think the debt is a problem, it’s a problem that
resulted out of that most sainted of actions: bipartisanship.
If the nation goes bankrupt, which it wouldn’t if we had
rational military spending (another sensible idea blocked by bipartisanship),
it won’t be because Pres. Obama and the Democrats did it by themselves.
1 comment:
In addition to my previous comments, I'd also argue the American people are schizophrenic (or maybe even bipolar).
I remember during Gov Paterson's administration during the budget brouhaha Marist came out w/ a poll. 85% of NY'ers said the biggest problem they faced in their daily lives was their crushing tax burden faced. They then asked in order to make the state budget shortfall would you rather have A. cuts in the education, B. cuts in the health care, C. cuts in government service, D. any combination of the above, or E. the higher taxes. By a 5-1 margin, higher taxes won out.
My conclusion is, NY'ers (& I'd say the rest of America) don't know what the hell we want.
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