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Capitol Ideas
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Capitol Ideas
A Remarkable Moment in Washington
If the liberals were so angry, something good must have happened.
(Page 2 of 2)
The good news, and the real change, is that the GOP is no longer the party of Rockefeller Republicans. Newt Gingrich put the problem eloquently some years back, when he said that the GOP was too eager to act as “tax collectors for the welfare state.” He had Bob Dole in mind. If Gingrich is to be included in any compendium of quotations, this one should be etched in stone. And if that GOP era is now passed, then the fury of the Left is understandable.
When a $900 billion stimulus package was enacted early in Obama’s term, in 2009, the Democrats must have been quietly reveling in the expectation that Republicans would now have to take on their time-honored responsibility by agreeing to raise taxes lest the “deficit” get out of control.
Lacking any such assurance in the future, the big spenders will have to alter their strategy.
What exactly goes on in the minds of American liberals? Their main problem is that they have not accepted that the world is made in a way that laws and politics can only marginally change. Communists made the same mistake. In fact, Liberals are the first cousins of Communists, which is why in the Cold War American liberals were so reluctant to criticize the Soviet Union. They saw that it had been built on principles (godless egalitarianism) that they themselves supported and promoted.
Modern-day American-style liberalism is an attempt to install the same egalitarian system — with the significant addition of democracy. In the end such a system must collapse, just as the Soviet Union did. We can only hope that democracy will come to our rescue before our system, too, collapses. The Tea Party, a child of democracy, gives us reason to hope that a true crisis can be averted.
About the Author
Tom Bethell is a senior editor of The American Spectator and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, and most recently Questioning Einstein: Is Relativity Necessary? (2009).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (71) | Leave a comment
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Keith I| 8.5.11 @ 6:47AM
I can't help but bristle every time I read and article that mentions "Obama's $900 billion stimulus package". Is it just me or have I missed where the $ 900 billion stiulus was REMOVED from subsequent budgets? IT HASN'T BEEN! We have had THREE CONSECUTIVE YEARS of $ 900 billion stimulus. It has been baked into freakin' the budget. Did the Federal budget go down in 2010, the year after the "stimulus"?. HELL NO
Why the Repubic "Leadership" is incapable of raising this point is simply beyond my (apparently limited) comprehension. The debt ceiling fight would have been a perfectly good time to make this argument. Yet one more Defeat snatched from the jaws of Victory.
chuck| 8.5.11 @ 7:26AM
Heck, this whole economy is a fraud. They are borrowing $1.5 trillion, and pumping it into the economy, first filtered through the government. What I want to know is, Where does all the money go? What have we gotten for the vast somes that have been borrowed and spent? Where is the accounting for the first $800 billion, let alone the subsequent years spending? Where are people going to admit that this crap just isn't working, doesn't work, never has worked, and never will work?
massmile | 8.5.11 @ 9:42AM
The reptiles in DC spend their waking hours devising ways to continue tricking us dariy cows into producing through one more election cycle.
I am a 28 years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username sammyshine2002 on--a'ge'l'ov'e'r.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck 'it out or tell your friends!
Delta Zelda| 8.5.11 @ 8:22PM
Massmile, why don't you crawl back under your rock? Haven't you figured out by now nobody wants you?
John Navratil| 8.7.11 @ 2:14PM
Delta Zelda,
'massmile' is a spambot. It's an ad for the site.
John Daniel| 8.5.11 @ 6:55AM
Your hope is misplaced. We have hit philosophical bedrock, where diddling around the edges will not avoid our demise. The Republicans should have drawn a line in the sand. Didn't. We are doomed.
Truth to Power| 8.5.11 @ 7:08AM
You chose a funny way to spend your last days.
mames| 8.5.11 @ 11:23AM
Tommy have you never heard of feigned anger as a political tool? These socialist in both parties are not afraid o0f the tea party, yet. Look what they just got! More spending and a "promise" to cut. Ya right and I'll respect you in the morning and my check's in the mail - the GOP is so pathetically weak and there are no real men in leadership, not a one. They are suit covered decaying men .
Antidote| 8.5.11 @ 7:54AM
Boehner's approval rating down to lowest in history, geee, wonder why? Thanks Tea Party, you will be the downfall of the Republican fascist party. Progressives everywhere thank you.
Pecos Pete| 8.5.11 @ 8:10AM
So you think the Republican is the fascist party? Gee, I guess General Electric should support the Republicans instead of the Democrats. Or maybe General Motors should give back their $50 billion DEMOCRAT government investment?
Melvin| 8.5.11 @ 10:04AM
Oh the, "Tanned Sissy," Switch the tan one with Mitt Romney, won't be able to tell the difference, ideologically speaking that is.
mames| 8.5.11 @ 11:24AM
Boehners numbers are down because he is a coward and a traitor to the people just as Obama is and likewise shares low numbers.
TrueBlue| 8.5.11 @ 2:39PM
Yup, all the Tea Party's fault that Boehner caved... oh wait, he isn't a Tea Party candidate! We can push and push but the Tea Party candidates are still a very small portion of the "Republicans" in office right now.
Louis Jenkins| 8.5.11 @ 8:28AM
"The Tea Party, a child of democracy, gives us reason to hope that a true crisis can be averted."
As stated yesterday, they were the only adults in the room. The next election is even more crucial than the last. The nation must be brought back to an even keel, otherwise the rocks of a bank rupt (really we already there) government are waiting to swallow us up. Only the wide awake Tea Party can do this, otherwise...
mames| 8.5.11 @ 11:26AM
The next election is the last chance before violence is needed. If the GOP cannot reign in spending controlling 2 or 3 branches then game over.
The Bruce| 8.6.11 @ 12:08AM
Mames, seriously, violence isn't the solution -- no matter how much you think it might be.
Calm down. We have a process in this country, and that process is called elections. If election results aren't to your liking, you're free to leave any time.
Don't stoop to the Left's level. For the last century the Left has used violence to push their political views. Do me a favor and don't be like them.
Gary B| 8.5.11 @ 8:29AM
Mr. Bethell presents a case that Obama lost because he didn't get his tax increases, which is only one part of the issue. Look what he got - he got the one thing he needed most, which was to postpone the spending controversy until after the election. Plus, he got an increase in spending, which both parties attempted to cover up in this bill.
I'm of two minds on this entire catastrophe. In more "normal" times the deal Boehner made with the expert help of the Tea Party would be considered a victory of sorts. But, now, as we're circling the drain, actual cuts in spending must take place because.... there is NO MORE MONEY.
Luckily, the securities markets are still free, because investors sent a pretty clear signal how they feel about all of this.
While columnists keep analyzing how the deck chairs are arranged, the fact remains - the Titanic is still going down.
mames| 8.5.11 @ 11:31AM
OH but tax increases can be accomplished through the super committee. Whata ya bet Bethell that they "raise some revenue"? Don't ya just love their revolving euphemisms? :) Get prepared they are about to "penetrate the posterior orifice." And they won't even use vaseline!
PolishKnight| 8.5.11 @ 12:38PM
"Mr. Bethell presents a case that Obama lost because he didn't get his tax increases, which is only one part of the issue. Look what he got - he got the one thing he needed most, which was to postpone the spending controversy until after the election"
GaryB, what I'm about to tell you will make you feel a lot better. You owe me a drink. Ready?
Obama's victory is only valid if he can actually keep within this present budget. I'm reminded of Donald Trump's declarations about his personal spending: He makes an unlimited budget and breaks it.
Obama can't help himself. 2 years without spending MORE money? You can give the guy 2 trillion bucks and he'll need to spend 4. Never throughout human history has a leader wasted money not only in absolute terms, but also politically. Is all this money buying him love from the electorate? This isn't FDR here. He's not going to have a Hoover dam to point to for future generations to marvel at. Instead, he has Obamacare which will just be a bad HMO program on steroids. No high speed rail. Not even electric cars. The guy's a total loser.
Gary B| 8.5.11 @ 6:56PM
Yes, I feel better. Thank you.
MXF guy| 8.5.11 @ 8:37AM
Read up on the recent one-time audit of the federal reserve. Turns out out it was sixteen trillion total handed out to both american and foreign institutions. http://tinyurl.com/3btua8u
Gary B| 8.5.11 @ 8:59AM
The main product of our government is deception. That's how you can tell elections still matter. The reptiles in DC spend their waking hours devising ways to continue tricking us dariy cows into producing through one more election cycle. Now, they're paniced because there is NO MORE MONEY. This brings us to another DC trait - denial.
Bill| 8.5.11 @ 9:37AM
The reason Democrats are unhappy is that they haven't caught on yet to how much of a strategic victory the debt ceiling deal was for them.
Petronius| 8.5.11 @ 9:38AM
The howling on the left about the Teaparty is just more flummery and incitement to escalated hate for it. Outside of winning the argument for fiscal discipline, no ground was gained and more profligacy for the duration was the result. What galls me is Boehner handing the Liberals a victory and giving the Teaparty the credit.
Gary B| 8.5.11 @ 9:59AM
Right. And, what galls me is Boehner.
Paul Kotik| 8.5.11 @ 10:00AM
The debt ceiling bill passed by Congress and signed by Obama is utterly inconsequential as far as the fiscal prospects of the United States go. The trajectory is unchanged.
We are headed for a state of emergency. One which I'm certain Obama welcomes. The ultimate not-to-be-wasted crisis. He awaits his real Lincoln moment, when he suspends habeus corpus.
Gary B| 8.5.11 @ 10:36AM
When jackbooted cops in full military garb kill people in their own homes at 3am with no repercussions whatsoever, can the suspension of habeas corpus be far behind?
Doctor Right| 8.5.11 @ 10:47AM
Liberals are always angry; that's why they're Libs. They hate the world almost as much as they hate themselves.
The REAL story here is that CONSERVATIVES are angry, and the GOP-establishment - clueless as ever - is in fir a rude awakening next November.
Louis Jenkins| 8.5.11 @ 11:12AM
Dr. Right:
Let us hope and pray that this will occur. The conservatives must get angry. That seems the only course left.
Doctor Right| 8.5.11 @ 11:23AM
The RINOS MUST be challenged in the primaries, Louis...
...and that includes Boehner.
BOmustGO| 8.5.11 @ 2:34PM
Unfortunately Boehner just got reelected. But, he needs to lose the Speakership. We need a Speaker with bal-z and a backbone - Boehner has neither. I'm not even sure Paul Ryan would be a good Speaker of the House. The Republicans are so disappointing because none of the leaders are dynamic. They are all entrenched in the good ol' boys club and don't want to rock to boat too much or stick their necks out for the greater good. Watching McConnell and Reid and Boehner - you just know they all got together for a brewski after the "negotiations". They are all friends off the clock. The "old guard" establishment Republicans need to be voted out and/or outnumbered. It will take time. That's what America doesn't have going for her. Time. Obama has been the most destructive president ever. And, he has no intention of stopping.
TrueBlue| 8.5.11 @ 2:44PM
Easy fix, if they've been in DC more than 8 yrs, vote them out. Republican or Democrat. If the next set doesn't get things fixed enough, do it again, until the politicals get the point.
BOmustGO| 8.5.11 @ 2:58PM
Works for me! This and term limits.
Stuart Koehl| 8.7.11 @ 6:29PM
I am wondering if you ever took a civics course, and if you did, whether you ever got around to Federalist No.10. Because the Founders set up our government deliberately to prevent any one party or interest group from enacting radical change without building a broad consensus. By definition, that means incrementalism and compromise. A Speaker or Majority Leader who is not an accomplished wheeler-dealer will accomplish nothing. So go for the ideological purist if you wish, but do not complain when his agenda--and yours--goes down in flames.
Ted| 8.5.11 @ 12:24PM
Not sure they are always angry, but they certainly are always foolish. And that is a mild rebuke.
I wonder about Boehner. Is he really a RINO, or did he and McConnell cook this up together as a good cop-bad cop routine to beat the President at his game.
Doctor Right| 8.5.11 @ 1:28PM
Well, they didn't "beat" Obama at anything, so I'm thinking they're RINOs...or just plain stupid.
fmm| 8.5.11 @ 1:35PM
check out the Senate Conservatives Fund initiated by Senator DeMint if you want to help
Gary B| 8.5.11 @ 6:59PM
Unless I'm mistaken, this fund is to help primary RINOs out of the picture. It's a great idea.
Nick| 8.5.11 @ 11:13AM
The best way to keep the incompetent O'Bama responsible is to hold our own leaders responsible.
Please, do not forget about Boehner the liar:
John Boehner is a liar and broke his word. He promised in the
2010 Pledge to America (remember that GOP?) to give
Americans THREE DAYS to read legislation
before a vote.
"Americans should have three days to read all bills before
Congress votes on them."
- John Boehner, Oct. 30, 2010
He's only been Speaker of the House for seven months, and he is
already breaking his word. How is this any different than when
SanFran Nan Pelosi did the same thing?
It's not like Boehner is incapable of keeping his word. That is, for
democrats. Remember H.R. 1, earlier this year? He let democrats
offer hundreds of amendments to keep "the Pledge’s commitment to an
'open process that makes it easier – not harder' to cut spending
[...]."
I guess we conservatives can just go pound sand, huh?
By the way, this grand deal has cut $4.5 billion from
national security spending for Fiscal Year 2012. These are
real cuts, $4.5 billion less spending
than FY 2011, not the phony C.B.O cuts from baseline
budgeting, which only reduce the growth of spending.
Thanks to this cry-baby Oompa-Loompa, we no longer have a veto
over that incompetent boob in the White House. Thank
you, sir, may I have another!
"'The American people are in charge of this country, and they deserve a Congress that acts like it,' said Boehner. 'Americans should have three days to read all bills before Congress votes on them--something they didn't get when the "stimulus" was rushed into law. We should put an end to so-called 'comprehensive' bills that make it easy to hide wasteful spending projects and job-killing policies. Bills should be written by legislators in committee in plain public view--not written in the Speaker's office, behind closed doors.'" (All emphasis minne.)
- Penny Starr, CNSNews.com, quoting John Boehner
"'Americans have lost trust with their government, which has too often ignored the will of the people in favor of party loyalty and a desire to pass partisan bills at any cost,' said the introduction to that part of the Pledge to America. 'Backroom deals, phantom amendments, and bills that go unread before being forced through Congress have become business as usual. Never before has the need for a new approach to governing been more apparent than under Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership [ARRRRRRRGH!]. Americans are demanding change in the way Congress works, and we are fighting to bring much-needed sunlight to the process and give the American people a greater voice in their Congress.'" (All emphasis mine.)
- Penny Starr, CNSNews.com, quoting the GOP's Pledge to America
HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!!!
Stuart Koehl| 8.7.11 @ 6:30PM
Hyperventilator!!!!!
Nick| 8.8.11 @ 10:59AM
Mr. Koehl,
How am I hyperventilating?
Boehner is a liar. He broke his word. What is wrong with pointing this out to AmSpec readers?
mames| 8.5.11 @ 11:34AM
Oh but that faux deadline caused him to be so a feared, he just didn't have time! :)
Old Guy| 8.5.11 @ 11:49AM
The whining and weeping is only the prologue to the next campaign motif: "We compromised. We gave everything. But it's still not working. Now here's what we should have appropriated....." Obama is a great actor to look so forlorn while knowing that he got excatly what he needed - a debt ceiling date beyond the next election and a commission which will wind up completing the Democrat agenda.
Dai Alanye | 8.5.11 @ 12:36PM
The degree of pessimism and despair in these comments is repulsive and misguided. Some of you folks must be contemplating suicide, so hopeless do you sound.
True, we only took a stumbling half-step forward, but it's far better than what usually comes out of Washington.
The question is what comes next. If conservatives can obtain either the Presidency or control of the Senate (better both, of course) real progress will result in 2013. We must hope the Tea Party in 2010 wasn't one-punch phenomenon, and they can deliver one more good election.
Criticism of John Boehner is both mistaken and exaggerated. He held the House together, a process similar to herding cats. Who else could have done it? Without that we'd have eventually seen a clear win for the Dems rather than this compromise that leans slightly to the fiscally responsible side
We're in a position now like the first day at Tarawa, with the Marines wading neck deep across a lagoon into a hail of fire to obtain a mere toehold on the bastion of Progessivism. Tomorrow we must begin to destroy pillboxes and advance inland. Let's hope the Tea Party has a few flamethrowers to help the assault.
fmm| 8.5.11 @ 1:37PM
Tarawa was not won by compromise
cuban pete| 8.5.11 @ 3:52PM
"One million men fighting one hundred years could not conquer Tarawa"
Japanese Commander General Shibasheki(spelling very uncertian)
5,000 Marines took Tarawa in 72 hours.
November 1943
BackToBasics| 8.6.11 @ 4:59AM
American soldiers are so tenacious and such brave and strong fighters. We have been so blessed by them. It's too bad more politicians don't have the same strengths. Only 5% of the Republican House held out for the necessary 4 trillion in budget cuts that we needed to prevent a credit rating downgrade.
But without that 5% who were mostly Tea Party members, this article would not have been written.
cuban pete| 8.6.11 @ 11:12AM
Yes Sir!!
Nick| 8.5.11 @ 1:48PM
Dai Alanye,
"True, we only took a stumbling half-step forward [...]."
We did? When did this happen? I must have missed it.
"The question is what comes next."
This is what you guys said after the C.R. debacle, when Boehner lied about the amount of phony cuts we would get this year. It was only 4 months ago. Do you think we have forgotten already?
You defenders of the status quo said, "Wait until the budget battle for FY2012, that's where the real fight is going to happen." And, now, you want us to wait until to see if we can take the presidency and Senate? Umm...no thank you.
Boehner is a liar and needs to be held accountable by the T.E.A. Party.
BOmustGO| 8.5.11 @ 2:55PM
I don't agree that comments about Boehner are mistaken or exaggerated. All Boehner had to do was say NO. Look what has happened anyway since he said yes. The most egregious compromise Republicans made was giving Obama the luxury of not having to go through another debt debate until the 2012 elections are over. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??? Mitch McConnell said himself that he was not going to "help" Obama get reelected. That's exactly what he has DONE! That's exactly what the Republicans have done with this give away. What the heck is wrong with them? Are they that naive???? Can't they see what Obama's policies are doing to this country? All they have to do is say NO. NO more money. NO debt increase. NO more spending. Let the Democrats worry about the consequences and let them demagogue all they want. The proof is in the pudding and the pudding is getting splattered even without the "compromise". The Republicans are afraid of their own shadows. They have completely forgotten about defunding and getting rid of Obamacare. They renigged on their Pledge to Americans. They are weak and stupid and the old guard needs to go. Period. McConnell, Boehner, McCain - they need to go! I think the reason that the Liberals are feigning anger and defeat is because they want Conservatives to think they are gaining ground and will sit back on their laurels and not try as hard. Conservatives who are paying attention KNOW they are not winning in these battles and it's BECAUSE of the John Boehners and Mitch McConnells in Congress. It's because they CAVE every time to the Liberal Democrats who they just can't bring themselves to say NO to. How can Conservatives win the battles AND the wars when we have "insiders" on our own side who fight against us? It's a lose, lose situation and VERY frustrating. It has to stop.
idalily| 8.5.11 @ 4:24PM
If Boener had said no, the media would have played the GOP is destroying America canard 24/7. No one can say for sure that default would have occurred, but if it had the GOP would have gotten ALL the blame. Again, we MUST take the Senate and the Presidency as well as the House in 2012 if we're going to have a prayer of saving this country. In the meantime, treading water is all we can do. Boener and the whole GOP are treading water. With our money, granted, but there's little more they can do. We, however, need to be active in our local communities and push for better Tea Party candidates to run in primaries. That is the key. It's up to us, not Boener. As tempting as it is to blame one person, or one group, that's just not productive. Stop blaming, and get in the fight locally. That's how we'll win.
Nick| 8.5.11 @ 6:17PM
Idaily,
Boehner and the House Republicans have an almost veto-proof majority, which gives them a veto over anything O'Bama and Dusty Reid propose.
And, they blew it! Their negotiating skills stink. It's time for a new team. For example, why does San Fran Nan Pelosi and the democrats get the same amount of seats (three) as the GOP, on the Select Committee?
Remember, President Reagan, also, had the Senate. Tip O'Neill and the democrats only had the House, and look how much they were able to squeez out of the Gipper!
Stuart Koehl| 8.7.11 @ 6:32PM
Um, perhaps because the Republicans control only the House of Representatives, while the Democrats control the Senate and the Presidency?
What do they teach them in the schools these days?
Nick| 8.8.11 @ 10:56AM
Mr. Koehl,
While preparing an answer to your question, I did the math, and found out that the source of my assertion that the House GOP has an almost veto-proof majority was wrong. The Republicans only control 55% of the House. My apologies.
But, still, the GOP has 10% more representation than the democrats. Why shouldn't that have been reflected in the make-up of this Select Committee? Again, it still gives them a veto over President Downgrade and the Senate democrats.
If Boehner and McConnell had insisted on 12 members from each house of Congress, this would have entitled the House Republicans to 7 seats to San Fran Nan's 5.
Finally, this "Super Committee" was a stupid idea to begin with. It's just more evidence that the GOP leadership, in both houses, are incompetent and need to be replaced with people who know how to negotiate.
Occam's Tool| 8.5.11 @ 12:46PM
Dear Dai:
I nominate the Ron Paul and the Mitt Romney Campaigns in the role of Lt. Hawkins. Best things they could do.
TrueBlue| 8.5.11 @ 2:47PM
Mr. RomneyCare? Seriously?
john dubose| 8.5.11 @ 12:54PM
If Boehner has a real pair, he will put Ron Paul on the "super committee" Instant panic !!
Don't hold your breath.
TrueBlue| 8.5.11 @ 2:48PM
Might almost redeem him after the debacles of the last two "compromises."
Clint| 8.5.11 @ 4:06PM
"Harris Poll: If Ron Paul Won GOP Nomination, He Would Split Vote With Obama.
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2011:
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), an official candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has performed well in several polls throughout his campaign. In may, Paul took second place in a CNN/WMUR poll of likely Republican voters. In June, Paul won a Republican Leadership Conference straw poll. At the beginning of July, Paul came in first in a Texas GOP poll, conducted by the Azimuth Research Group.
Perhaps the best indication of Paul’s candidacy so far is a Harris poll released today by Harris Interactive. According to the Harris poll, Obama and Paul would split the vote right down the middle if they were to run against each other in 2012.
Between July 11th and 18th, 2011, nearly 2200 adults were surveyed online by Harris Interactive. According to the Harris poll, 50 percent of those surveyed would vote for Paul if he were matched up against Obama and 50 percent would vote for the President."
ABNCP| 8.5.11 @ 2:00PM
Come on folks. The destruction of traditional American is Obama's agenda. Read D'Souza, read Corsi's first Obama book writen prior to the 2008 election both of them nailed what Obama was put in office to do. Obama now understands his chanches of being a two term President are nil. The fact that he overplayed his hand in his first months in office was pure hubris and overwhelming inexperience. He had to turn over his entire program to Reid and Palosi because he had no idea how to manage anything. And dumb and dumber believing that they had overwhelming approval from the American people to put into place Progressive/Marxist government progams proceeded to try to do just that. Thank God for the people who came together to form the Tea Party. We may have saved American, still to soon to be sure and the fight has just begun.
Oldefarte| 8.5.11 @ 2:41PM
Please read Wayne Allen Root's editorial of today on Newsmax confirming your excellent point. Additionally, see the following:
'....Michelle Malkin, Author and Syndicated Columnist, On Austerity and the President's Calls for More Spending:"The American Age of Austerity lasted approximately three minutes, give or take a nanosecond. Immediately after the Senate approved the bipartisan 'Budget Control Act of 2011' on Tuesday afternoon, President Obama hustled over to the Rose Garden — to crow about the renewed opportunity to make 'key investments.' "Yes, the pitched battle to force government to live within its means has preserved the failed stimulator-in-chief’s ability to keep spending like there’s no tomorrow. As the curtains closed on D.C.’s debt-ceiling theater, Obama wasted no time putting his new 'investment' priorities on the table: higher taxes, more funding for endless unemployment benefits, and a 'national infrastructure bank.'" '
martin j smith| 8.5.11 @ 2:49PM
The Republican leadership needs change. They need people who not only recognize that the Socialists cannot be negotiated with if that means a "deal" that would improve our economy. Socialists have a COMPLETELY --I MEAN AN OUT OF EARTH EXPERIENTIAL WAY OF THINKING SO ALIEN TO REALITY OF OUR HISTORY AND TRADITIONS THAT our "languages are unstranslatable to each other. Goals are mutually exclusive. Put explicitly--Free market versus Marxist-Leninist state run government. What leaders must do and should have done was to continue a confrontation with Socialists BUT GO PUBLIC TO VOTERS ABOUT IS GOING ON WITH THE ECONOMY AND WHY WE ARE IN TROUBLE. REPUBLICAN LEADERS NEED TO SAY THAT THE SOCIALISTS CLAIMS AND NOT ONLY WRONG, BUT DESTRUCTIVE AND SHOW WHY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
This position requires freedom from fear and a strong believe in Free market conservative ideas and with articulate,knowledgeable leaders. This is what we need.
Oldefarte| 8.5.11 @ 4:53PM
Ron Paul is slowely becoming a viable Republican candidate:
'....Ron Paul: Debt Deal is a 'Fraud'
Friday, August 5, 2011 12:37 PM
By: Jim Meyers and Ashley Martella
Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul tells Newsmax the bill designed to cut the budget deficit and raise the debt ceiling is a “fraud” because it actually does nothing to reduce current spending levels.
The Texas lawmaker also says it is “discouraging” that many new members of Congress who were backed by the tea party voted in favor of the bill, the Budget Control Act of 2011.
Rep. Paul has served 12 terms in Congress and is chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology. He previously ran for president in 1988 and 2008, and has announced he will retire from Congress when his current term ends.
Paul is one of five Republicans from the Texas congressional delegation to vote against passage of the budget bill. In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, he takes issue with claims that the bill contains cuts in current spending.
“This is one of the most annoying things about the reporting on what we’ve been trying to do in Washington and what we pretend to be doing,” he says.
“They always talk about cuts, cuts, cuts, and everyone’s screaming you can’t cut this, you can’t cut that. But there are no cuts. What they’re talking about is cutting proposed increases. So it’s a real misleading definition when they talk about cuts. Anything we do for future years doesn’t hold water anyway because you can’t tell the next Congress what to do.
“Basically it’s a fraud. If they were serious about it they could freeze the budget and give everybody the same amount of money they got last year.”
Paul maintains that if the federal government went back to 2004 spending levels, we would have a balanced budget right now.
“Even now if you freeze the budget, within about five years it would be balanced again,” he explains. “But nobody’s quite willing to do that because they think they have to have steady increases.
“There’s a strong appetite for government and that is where the problem is. People don’t want to cut back on the militarism or anything that looks like it might cut into the check they’re getting from government, and a lot of people are getting checks from the government.”
Paul tells Newsmax the federal budget has doubled in 10 years because “the appetite for government never ends. There are more retired people because of the demographics, less people coming into the workforce. Unemployment rates go up so the benefits go up automatically. It’s endless.
“And there are always new programs. There are hundreds and hundreds of programs that are brand new. They just won’t stop. It’s like an addiction. I don’t think they realize the seriousness of this problem.”
Paul is disappointed that most Republicans who were backed by the tea party in 2010 voted for the budget bill.
“The tea party people have helped because it has changed the atmosphere and at least they’re talking about this,” he says.
“But it has to be awfully discouraging for all of us if they’re not voting against these kinds of programs where we raise the national debt.
“It’s a real mess. People realize that when you do cut there’s a political liability there. But the tea party people got here because it was a political liability to continue the spending.
“That has to be ironed out and it will be ironed out pretty soon because we cannot maintain what we’re doing.”
Paul believes there will be a backlash from the tea party against members of Congress who voted for the bill.
“I think there will be but I don’t think it will be quite the same thing that happened last year when so many [incumbents] were routed.
“There will be so many people who will be disenchanted, saying, ‘We changed the Congress but we didn’t change the votes.’
“If things don’t improve and we don’t get our house in order and control this budget, I think there will be a lot of people saying, ‘We sent you over there but you kept voting for more spending.’”
If Republicans take control of the Senate in the 2012 elections next year, Paul was asked, will that change anything regarding reckless spending?
“Let’s hope so, but there’s no guarantee,” he responds.
“When George Bush was in charge and we had the Senate and the House, we didn’t do a very good job.
“Then the battle becomes between the two factions within the Republican Party, the conservatives versus the big spenders. It depends on who shows up in the Senate. But certainly the way it’s formulated right now there’s no way the conservatives can win a fight and have the Senate support it and then have the president sign a bill.”
Explaining why he decided to leave Congress after his current term expires, Paul tells Newsmax: “I wanted to concentrate on the race for the presidency. The last time I ran I did both and it’s distracting, and I wanted to make sure people knew I was very, very serious about the presidential run. I was also content to know that I am ready to leave the Congress.”
Paul adds that as a presidential candidate his poll numbers “have been improving. We have to continue to campaign, we have to continue to raise money.......'
POST American| 8.5.11 @ 10:32PM
-------------------BOTTOM LINE--------------------
'90's Show' Stanford Research 'Complacency
OP' ---ALERT!---
The imperatives of Globalism, psychopathic
USURY and the massively unfolding RED China
sellout and TREASON OP ---remain, unquestionably,
the CORE issues.
-----------------DON'T BE CONNED!-------------------
Glein| 8.5.11 @ 11:26PM
Please make sense!
Glein| 8.5.11 @ 11:26PM
I appreciate your position but are you nuts! The Demos kicked Repubs in the ass and then cleaned their clocks! Republicans are no different than Demos. Republicans lie better! At least Obam, Reid and Pelosi are willing to stand up for what they believe. Boehner and McConnell are cowards and unwilling to stand up for what they beleive. They are losers for that reason. Welcome to the People's Republic!
Michael L. Hauschild| 8.6.11 @ 1:17PM
Mr. Bethell, you fail to perceive conservatism as well as you represent economics. Your heroes are Boehner and McConnell, such a perception of these fools as paragons of fiscal restraint are as distorted as your explanation of deficit, spending, and baseline are correct. Your “who knows what would have happened” will only have to stand a very short exposure to the reality of the elitist “kick the can down the road” congress to be answered. The Tea PARTY had the answer, the Tea Party drew the line where it needed to be drawn, and the golf pros will be on the outside looking in very soon.
The public is denied transparency (three days notice to read the bills, my ass), but the Tea Party has x-ray vision and will keep us posted. You have the concept of scale well defined with fiscal matters; your perception of the zero point concerning our representatives needs work.
jgo| 8.7.11 @ 1:27PM
The debt ceiling was increased, and even in the few days since, the federal debt has soared. That's not a good compromise. A good compromise would be agreeing to pay off the federal debt within the next 20 years or 30 years rather than the next 10 years, not merely thinking about some day in the future maybe moving a little toward a non-increasing debt.
John Navratil| 8.7.11 @ 2:32PM
jgo,
And if you or I were King that's what would happen. There is much to dislike on this "debt ceiling" fiasco; something for everyone, in fact.
Take some small solace in the notion that if the ship of state was so easily turned, Obama would have had it on the rocks long before now. He had the trifecta WITH a veto-proof Senate. That we are still here speaks to the resilience of the country. The "back benchers" have fought mightily. It's easy to dismiss their actions, but much harder to suggest how a better outcome could be obtained. As appealing as a shutdown seems, it would have put Obama in the position of King deciding who would and who would not get paid. How do you think he would prioritize? Do you think it would be better for the nation?
I'm not trying to be a Pollyanna here. This republic is long in the tooth by historical standards and may not survive. However, NOTHING of import can be accomplished by a completely ideologically divided government. A success in 2012 is a necessity.
Michael L. Hauschild| 8.7.11 @ 7:35PM
".......if the ship of state was so easily turned, Obama would have had it on the rocks long before now."
Absolutely stunning perception! Truely one of those, "Why did not I think of that?"
Thanks.
POST American| 8.9.11 @ 12:50AM
------------------BOTTOMLESS LINE------------------
AS the last of the poppers, roach clips and
cigarette butts are picked from the pine needles
of Bohemian Grove ---a little COSMIC REALITY CHECK.
USURY is, was, always will be a GOD mocking
ABOMINATION.
"And remember people, SIN is never
still, but always, ALWAYS on the move,
and ALWAYS LINKED."
-Jonathan Edwards (sermon)
America's Pre-Eminent Calvinist
THINK cultural degradation, always and
everywhere a TOP--DOWN affair.
THINK institutionalized DEPRAVITY.
(Need we enlarge?)
And,as the Glow-BALL--IST RED China
TREASON OP enters the FINAL phase
----even think the ultimate GOD mocking
trick of the capstone --the humunculae
(chimeras, clones, GM poisoned food)
----------------SEE YOU IN NUREMBERG!
REALLY
TRULY
---------------------------BOTTOMLESSLY...