It turns out that every four
years the American citizen is afforded an opportunity to write out a report
card in the form of a public vote intended to measure the performance of this
nation's political leaders - the President of the United States and the U.S.
Congress.
As the saying goes, "What
have they done for me lately?"
Well, they did pass a national health care program which republicans
argue will bankrupt the nation. On
the other hand, it appears the nation is already bankrupt. The President George Bush
administration ran up the national debt by $5-trillion (in 8 years) to a total
of $10.7 trillion and the current President Barack Obama administration has
outdone that by adding on another $5-trillion in just four years for a grand
total of $15.7 trillion. Of
course, these figures are well beyond human comprehension when considering the
$30-billion monthly interest cost and the fact the national debt increases by
$3.95 billion every day. As Tom
Raum reported (AP editorial, July 30, 2011) "The U.S. now borrows slightly over
40 cents for every dollar it spends."
Most
people will recall this national debt ceiling created a disastrous
confrontation between democrats who wanted to roll back the Bush tax cuts and
raise some taxes and the republicans who claimed they were willing to negotiate
an increase in the debt ceiling provided there would be no tax increases and
the Bush tax cuts would be extended.
In short, Congress was deadlocked with potential catastrophic consequences.
Paul
Krugman - New York Times - commented "Failure to raise the debt limit would
force the U.S. to make drastic, immediate spending cuts, on a scale that would
dwarf the austerity being imposed on Greece." "Could convince investors that the United States is no
longer a serious, responsible country and nobody knows what a U.S. default
would do to the world financial market . . ." There were other problems including failure to pay social
security, medicare benefits, military and federal salaries. In short, the endless haggling and
childish bickering between republicans and democrats led to a down-grading of
the U.S. credit rating and a national poll which revealed the American public
no longer had any confidence in Congress.
In
the end President Barack Obama and the democrats caved in to republican demands
and a so-called super committee was created to solve this issue. Most of us will recall this bi-partisan
panel of so-called political geniuses admitted defeat in November, 2011and went
home. A reasonable compromise can
never be reached if one side of the issue declares any negotiations shall not
include tax increases.
To
be fair, President Obama inherited an existing budgetary problem created
because this nation went to war and decided to fund this massive expense by
reducing taxes - a policy guaranteed to increase the national debt. Incredibly, our Congressional leaders
consented to this plan and a fractured segment of Congress continues support
this policy to this very day!
The
puzzling question remains: "If most Americans think our political leaders are
doing a terrible job, why is it they keep getting returned to Congress?"
Now is pay-back time. The U.S. voter has two opportunities to
correct this deadlocked and deadbeat Congress by voting in someone new. First, there is the primary (June 5,
2012) and then comes the general election in November. It is time to vote "no" on incumbents
and find someone who can get the job done.