The Era of Big Government Is...
Back!
The single, big issue for Democrats and Independents running for office should be fiscal responsibility. It is the one thing almost everyone across the political spectrum says they liked about the Clinton years and it is the thing the Republicans are failing at so miserably.
Incoming DNC Chairman Howard Dean has talked about the Bush Administration’s “Fiscal recklessness” and about the “Enron-style accounting” in the Bush Budget.
Now it’s up to Democrats in Congress to realize what Republicans realized a long time ago: The thing people care most about is their money. Democrats need to alert the public that what Bush is spending is their money. Some of it they have paid in taxes already. The rest of it, Bush is borrowing from their savings or their children’s inheritance. The message needs to be: Wake-up America, you’re being fleeced. That miniscule tax rebate is like any “rebate”: it is a small financial motivator designed to get you to part with a lot more money.
Americans like money. But they also like to spend money. They will tolerate paying taxes if they are getting something for it. Liberals have long been labeled as “tax and spenders” which reads “money wasters.” It is now the Republicans in charge and they are wasting America’s money at an unprecedented rate. Even former Speaker of the House, Republican Newt Gingrich is now saying “the Republicans have lost their way” when it comes to fiscal discipline.
Democrats and Independents need to explain where Bush is spending money and where he is proposing not to spend money. Most taxpayers would be okay with their money being spent to demolish a crack house and plant a few trees. Most taxpayers wouldn’t be upset to see their money being spent to improve academic skills of American children. Those are the sorts of items Bush has decided not to spend money on. But building bombs to drop on other countries and building logging roads in the National Forests for timber companies to use are things he is spending money on. Most taxpayers are, I would guess, at least a little uneasy about that sort of spending.
It is up to the Democrats and Independents to make the voters aware of where their money goes, how much of it goes there, and who benefits. If they don’t, Bush and Company will gladly define these expenditures: Expensive weapons to kill people with? That’s “defending freedom”. Logging roads? That’s “preserving a way of life”. Bulldozing a crack house in an inner-city neighborhood? That’s “a wasteful and inefficient government program.”
The Bush team snuck out the details of the budget cuts late last Friday, a tactic designed to garner the least amount of press coverage. The cuts include slashing expenditures in the areas of health, education and law-enforcement. No wonder they didn’t want the cuts to get much attention. Informing the public has never been a top priority for this administration.
That will be the job of Howard Dean and the Democrats.
The single, big issue for Democrats and Independents running for office should be fiscal responsibility. It is the one thing almost everyone across the political spectrum says they liked about the Clinton years and it is the thing the Republicans are failing at so miserably.
Incoming DNC Chairman Howard Dean has talked about the Bush Administration’s “Fiscal recklessness” and about the “Enron-style accounting” in the Bush Budget.
Now it’s up to Democrats in Congress to realize what Republicans realized a long time ago: The thing people care most about is their money. Democrats need to alert the public that what Bush is spending is their money. Some of it they have paid in taxes already. The rest of it, Bush is borrowing from their savings or their children’s inheritance. The message needs to be: Wake-up America, you’re being fleeced. That miniscule tax rebate is like any “rebate”: it is a small financial motivator designed to get you to part with a lot more money.
Americans like money. But they also like to spend money. They will tolerate paying taxes if they are getting something for it. Liberals have long been labeled as “tax and spenders” which reads “money wasters.” It is now the Republicans in charge and they are wasting America’s money at an unprecedented rate. Even former Speaker of the House, Republican Newt Gingrich is now saying “the Republicans have lost their way” when it comes to fiscal discipline.
Democrats and Independents need to explain where Bush is spending money and where he is proposing not to spend money. Most taxpayers would be okay with their money being spent to demolish a crack house and plant a few trees. Most taxpayers wouldn’t be upset to see their money being spent to improve academic skills of American children. Those are the sorts of items Bush has decided not to spend money on. But building bombs to drop on other countries and building logging roads in the National Forests for timber companies to use are things he is spending money on. Most taxpayers are, I would guess, at least a little uneasy about that sort of spending.
It is up to the Democrats and Independents to make the voters aware of where their money goes, how much of it goes there, and who benefits. If they don’t, Bush and Company will gladly define these expenditures: Expensive weapons to kill people with? That’s “defending freedom”. Logging roads? That’s “preserving a way of life”. Bulldozing a crack house in an inner-city neighborhood? That’s “a wasteful and inefficient government program.”
The Bush team snuck out the details of the budget cuts late last Friday, a tactic designed to garner the least amount of press coverage. The cuts include slashing expenditures in the areas of health, education and law-enforcement. No wonder they didn’t want the cuts to get much attention. Informing the public has never been a top priority for this administration.
That will be the job of Howard Dean and the Democrats.
posted by Steve Trumbull | 2/18/2005
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