Mandate? Not for the President…

The President and democrats in congress are talking about a “mandate” from the people to raise taxes. Really? If that were true, don’t you think the voters would have given the House of Representatives a democratic advantage if that was the case? Every spending and tax bill originates in the house and who was elected to the house in a majority? Republicans, and every republican ran on spending cuts not tax increases. So you could say that the American people actually voted for a mandate of spending cuts.

Any talk of giving into the president’s agenda is wrong and will further divide this nation. The federal government has an addiction to spending and most Americans believe it is time to put the federal government into spending rehab. If the voters were asked the question: should the government increase taxes on small businesses in order to create jobs and reduce the deficit? I believe people understand taxing the people that they work for is not a good idea and will come out of their hide either way. It is when the question is posed to “tax the rich” it wins support. Which is unfortunate in itself but “the rich” have been demonized by democrats for so long that this faceless group is easy to gain support for punishment.

President Obama won by a razor thin majority and not by a landslide. The people that are continuing to gloat over their win will soon find themselves in a situation where they are laid off, cutting back, paying more for everything, and if taxes are permitted to be raised, a deep recession. My heart breaks for my children and their generation, because they have been lied to, and may never again see a great America if this president gets what he is hoping for in his final term. The gloating is disturbing.

So based on the election results the House of Representatives must stop the fiscal bankruptcy by cutting spending. If they want to close some loop holes that is OK as long as everyone’s taxes are raised. The 47% who don’t pay federal tax must be made to pay something since they get most of the services.

We are a divided nation and it is getting worse. There is no need to come together on the issue of raising taxes because it will destroy our economy. And then we will be in it together but in a place we will not want to be. The mandate is to cut spending not increase taxes. Republicans must remember that and focus on reforming all entitlements and balancing the budget…  

The Elderly, Poor, and Disabled…

It is common for those that oppose any reforms in entitlement programs to lump the elderly, poor, and disabled into a category of folks that must be protected from reductions in government programs. It drives me crazy when the media broad brushes these groups to support arguments against any real reform of any government program. It’s as if every elderly, poor, or disabled person has to rely on a government program to survive.


Nothing could be further from the truth to think that these groups need government support. The “elderly” are actually as a group some of the most affluent Americans both economically and emotionally. After years of working, many elderly Americans own their homes outright, have both private pensions and social security, and many work to supplement their savings and retirement. There are some elderly on a “fixed” income but it is not every elderly American.

The “poor” in America are a very diverse group of individuals. The first question we need to ask is why are they poor? Could it be they have been depending on government programs instead of their own ingenuity? Could it be they have been brought up by single mother no father “families” that have been perpetuated by government programs that incentivize unhealthy behavior? Could it be a choice to rely on drugs and alcohol? Have government bureaucrats that depend on these vices for their living become advocates to keep people poor? The failure of government education has kept people from breaking out of their socioeconomic circumstances and we need to wrestle schools from the government. Should we be supporting programs that perpetuate a hopeless future?

The “disabled” designation for Americans has consistently grown in this country. It is not because we have more disabled Americans but rather we have designated more people as being disabled even when they are not. Alcoholism is now a disability. A lack of focus has become a disability. Obesity is now a disability. There are millions of “disabled” Americans that ask nothing of the government and are capable of making their own way in life. There are truly disabled Americans that need help but the numbers are nowhere near the numbers the federal government cites.

There are billions of wasted dollars in the federal government programs that need to be trimmed. There are people that need to be weaned off of federal subsidies including American corporations and foreign governments. More importantly these government subsidies undermine individual hope and our freedom.

The path we are on is not sustainable. It is time to start treating Americans as capable individuals and stop the nonsense that we have nowhere in the federal budget we can make cuts. The economy will suffocate unless we reduce the federal government by 30 to 40%. American’s are ready to step up and make their way if the politicians would just get out of it…

Better Than Expected But Not Enough…

John Boehner did better than I expected but I am very concerned about the 2012 “budget.” Here’s why I am giving the GOP some slack. If the Democrats would have produced a budget in the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the opportunity to cut would not have been an option. So from the democrat’s inability to pass a budget, the republicans were able to get a few incidental cuts that normally would not have been the case.


The republicans campaigned on larger cuts but in the end it what they settled on could have been worse. I have to disclose that I am from the school that wants to see a budget produced that balances in five years not ten. It can be done but from the whining we have seen over these meager reductions highlights how deceitful the democrats truly are. I addition, the fact that democrats can point to so many programs the federal government provides to so many people only makes this fight all the more important.

Too many people are getting some portion of their income from some sort of federal subsidy. That is dangerous and an undermining of our founding principles. The next budget must eliminate and reduce every federal program. No exceptions that includes the military. I am a conservative that supports the military but the waste is just as rampant in the DOD as anywhere else in the federal government.

Paul Ryan is being touted as this great conservative thinker but he has voted for TARP and other programs that make me uncomfortable and we can do better than his first draft.

The Tea Party is not extreme and everyone that considers themselves a patriot must get back in the game and not fall prey to the demonizing the democrats have put on display. They are using the Tea Party as a weapon to stop cuts and we must be proud to stand for constitutional government. Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Obama, and the main stream media will lie with no conscience about this upcoming battle and we must expose them and hold tight to our principles. It is our principles that are mainstream and are the reason for America’s success, not theirs.

Caps and reforms of entitlements, transition from government retirement programs to the private sector model, the end of duplicative programs, an end to Afghanistan and Libyan theatres, a continued reduction of troops in Iraq, end of Obama care, and a balanced budget amendment all need to be on the table.

And finally, we should not agree to a debt Ceiling adjustment unless a balanced budget and budget amendment are part of the deal. This is a war for our future. We need to fight it like one and if these are not the representatives willing to do it then we will fight to change it in 2012.

Debt Ceiling…

Does anyone really believe that the “concessions” Speaker Boehner is talking about will be realized? What confidence should we have with the republican leadership that has shown that they lack the fortitude to manage a budget by their past actions? They were very happy garnering the Tea Party vote to get another chance at the helm but the Tea Party has little patience for more budget shenanigans.


We just added a Trillion dollars to the budget deficit in the last year. We should cut a Trillion dollars this year. I agree we need to pay our bills but there are bills that if reduced now would make paying the debt service doable.

I am having a hard time understanding how we add a Trillion in debt but the answer is to cut a $100 billion? I am no mathematician but we added a thousand billion and we are cutting 100 billion and we are good? Something is not adding up on my calculator.

The federal “budget” is $3.5 trillion give or take a billion. First, a budget in the private sector usually bases its spending and investment on the revenue coming in the door. But the federal government doesn’t really care that taking in $2.5 trillion and spending $3.5 trillion doesn’t add up. They have our credit card to borrow the deficit so balance be damned. The math is easy so why can’t we just balance the budget?

The biggest problem is that about 60% of the budget is redistribution of wealth. That means that the federal government is taking dollars from some of us and giving it to others through Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, both personal and corporate, Education, Social Security (even though some have paid in - the way it is run is wealth transfer), and a million little programs that would take a thousand pages to list. What does it all mean? That 60% of the budget battle will pit one group against another.

Even if we balanced the budget in 2011, the debt that has been created by the federal government (yes under both republicans and democrats) has to be paid with the promised interest. But raising the debt ceiling is yet another temporary measure. It puts off a few more years the inevitable fact that we are spending too much on federal largesse.

The debt ceiling is being used as another tool by politicians unwilling to make the hard decisions they need to make. If the politicians offered up a balanced budget by making the necessary cuts, the debt ceiling would no longer be the argument, we would be able to pay the debt. The debt has an exponential effect and we need to get the deficit to 0 before we can dent our debt obligation.

The debt ceiling offers the politicians another escape hatch. It is time to face this crisis head on. Our children deserve a real solution and a balanced budget. We created this mess; we need to fix it…