WHAT A REVOLTIN' DEVELOPMENT
Independent voters in Massachusetts have sent a resounding message to Washington: "No more." No more spending. No more reform. No more big government. It is a classic case of future shock all over again.
The prime beneficiaries of all this are the Republicans. That fact alone is enough to make you gag when you realize that for six long years the Republicans cut taxes, raised spending, fell in love with every war that came their way, and let the financial markets be just be as bad as they wanted to be.
Ronald Reagan said that he would spend the Soviet Empire into oblivion. Well, the Republicans under Bush adopted the same strategy against our own government, intentionally putting it into such a deep hole of debt that the size of government would be forever after constrained by fiscal necessity. Or so they thought. They didn't reckon on a global economic meltdown.
President Obama came in with a mandate to save an economy that looked to be teetering on the brink of a second Great Depression. He also had his own agenda: Health care and energy. He tried to pitch health care as budget reform but the message was never heard over the rantings of the know-nothings and tea parties.
Despite his urgings to get this wrapped up in 2009, the Democrats in the House and the Senate diddled around in the pursuit of the perfect at the expense of the good enough. Well, that wasn't good enough. They let the Republicans sow discontent during the summer, and now the Democrats are reaping the bitter harvest of their inaction.
As if things aren't bad enough, we face the doubly galling prospect of the Republican gloating over the one swallow that makes their spring. But let us never forget that it was Republican's lethal combination of lower taxes, lower regulations, and increased spending that caused every problem we face today.January 20, 2010
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