"But this will not happen, because
the Republicans have absolutely no interest in cutting government. These
are the clowns who nearly doubled it when they had the presidency in the
1980s and increased it by over half during the Bush years. They love big
government about as much as the Democrats."
It's All the Republicans'
Fault
by Anthony Gregory
If the debt limit is once again raised, guaranteeing more crazed deficit
spending regardless of any promises accompanying the deal, blame should
fall squarely on the Republicans.
The GOP controls the House of Representatives. They command the federal
purse strings. Nothing can force them to raise the debt ceiling. There is
no justification for raising it under any circumstances. Default is a
perfectly valid option, discouraging lenders from continuing to enable
Washington's gluttonous and destructive spending. Or the government can
simply cut $1.6 trillion for the next fiscal year and operate according
to its revenues.
The House Republicans can easily tell Obama: "We refuse to raise the
debt ceiling. Period. Now let's sit down and talk about what to
cut." And no matter what the president does, the House leadership
can refuse to pay for his expensive programs. It is that simple.
Of course, the Republicans would need to propose real spending cuts --
not tens of billions or even hundreds of billions but over a trillion.
The U.S. could go back to its
penny-pinching budget of 2002. You know, back in the horse-and-buggy
days of nine years ago, when the federal government remarkably managed to
survive on a mere two trillion annually.
This could be done. Or the Republicans could say: "Let's slash all
military-related spending by half, means-test Social Security and
Medicare, cut the bureaucracy of every single department by 50%. It's
either that or nothing. We refuse to vote to raise the debt limit."
But this will not happen, because the Republicans have absolutely no
interest in cutting government. These are the clowns who nearly doubled
it when they had the presidency in the 1980s and increased it by over
half during the Bush years. They love big government about as much as the
Democrats.
How else can we explain their failure simply to refuse to increase the
debt limit? They won the 2010 midterm elections on an anti-government
mandate. At least, that's what they claim. Indeed,
a new Gallup poll indicates significant public support against
raising the debt limit: "Despite agreement among leaders of both
sides of the political aisle in Washington that raising the U.S. debt
ceiling is necessary, more Americans want their member of Congress to
vote against such a bill than for it, 42% vs. 22%, while one-third are
unsure."
The Republicans could marshal this public opposition to business as usual
for a major political payoff, but instead they agree with the Democrats
that the limit must be raised or else hell will break loose. In the end
their major interest is in advancing the power and size of the state. As
with the TARP bailout, they will ultimately demonstrate neither the will
nor desire to stand with the public against fiscal insanity. Instead, we
get the same old nonsense: Promises to balance the budget years from now,
which has no relevance because Congress can only determine one year's
spending at a time.
In particular, the Republican trick this time around is "Cut, Cap,
and Balance."
As Lew Rockwell notes, when Ron Paul, libertarians, or regular people
talk about "cuts," they mean actual reductions in the budget
compared to last year. Is this what most Republicans mean when they sign
onto this? It's impossible to trust them.
Consider the substance of this scheme. We are to believe that some petty
cuts and "enforceable" caps on future spending, combined with a
Balanced Budget Amendment, are going to stop a catastrophe that has been
in the making for decades, one that doesn't even touch on the many
trillions in unfunded liabilities that will come to the forefront in
future generations. Meanwhile,
the
bloated and growing military budget won't be touched at all.
A Balanced Budget Amendment is actually a bad idea. It is a potential
excuse to raise taxes, despite any requirement of supermajorities needed
to do it, and something that can't be passed without support from
three-fourths of the state legislatures anyway. How can something
contingent upon such a major process be a bargaining demand for a debt
ceiling that has to be raised in the next couple weeks? This is all a
smokescreen.
Twenty years ago, Congress thoroughly debated this stuff. It was clear
the trainwreck would come. The Democrats did nothing. The Republicans did
nothing. The GOP had Congress in the 1990s and did nothing. They had the
presidency and Congress for a few years and again did nothing.
Actually, that's not accurate. When the Republicans ran the whole show
they did plenty – way too much. After years of pleading for a chance to
run the White House and Congress, they proved themselves spendthrifts
across the board. Even before the excuse of 9/11, the Bush administration
was readying its multi-trillion-dollar expansion of Medicare and vast
expansion of the Department of Education. Under Bush, the Republicans
voted to raise the debt limit over a dozen times. To say Republicans
spend money like drunken sailors insults sailors and greatly exaggerates
the effect of alcohol on financial judgment.
At least we are seeing the myth of gridlock, one of the last fallacies of
democratic politics that libertarians tend to believe, come unglued.
Eventually the two sides will come to a deal that will be bad for every
normal American, concocted with one purpose alone: to give politicians on
both sides of the aisle a way to win votes from their constituents. This
economic crisis that should turn everyone away from electoral politics
altogether and encourage a mass exodus from both parties will instead be
spun to excite the base of both parties. From the deep state's point of
view, higher voter turnout and strengthened partisan loyalties, along
with more celebration for the prospect of partisan cooperation to move
the country forward, are the best possible outcomes of a financial
calamity that should instead turn all of society against the state.
Even if the Republicans were to draw a line in the sand and refuse to
raise the limit while demanding a trillion and a half in cuts, it would
be too little, too late, and they would not deserve the support of anyone
seriously interested in limited government. But they won't even do
that.
Don't be distracted by Republican schemes and sleights of hand. They are
not victims of an unstoppable Democratic establishment or a public
opposed to cutting spending. Their talk about a debt ceiling compromise
attached to some meaningless vows to cut spending in the future should be
dismissed outright. They need only to refuse to raise the debt limit and
go from there. No matter what happens, they run the House of
Representatives and could stop the spending any time they want. Any
continuation of the unspeakable profligacy that has defined the Obama era
must be blamed on the Republicans.
http://www.republicansforimpeachment.com/politics/4207/
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