GOP fiscal cowardice

While studying for my upcoming U.S. Congress test, I came across a particularly insightful passage in Congress and Its Members by Roger H. Davidson dealing with presidential-congressional relations. The section discusses presidents using bill-signing ceremonies to reward supporters and send messages. I thought Bush's public relations strategy of what policies to publicize was interesting -- in this case, revealing the GOP's fiscal cowardice:

"Bush signed a bill dealing with corporate corruption on a table adorned with a sign saying 'Corporate Responsibility,' a technique used by the White House image-makers to associate the president's picture with the gist of his message. Occasions did arise when bills were signed in virtual secrecy, such as a 2003 measure raising the federal debt ceiling by nearly $1 trillion. On the day he quietly signed that bill into law, Bush held a public bill-signing ceremony for his $350 billion tax-cut measure."

The government estimated in 2000 that it would run a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion over the next decade. Bush sent a ten-year $1.6 trillion tax cut plan to Congress and said, "we recognize loud and clear the surplus is not the government's money -- the surplus is the people's money, and we ought to trust them with their own money." Once the economy slipped into a recession, Bush's rationale for continuing the tax cuts changed. It became essential to stimulating the economy -- classic trickle down theory Reaganomics.

This fiscal attitude dominates the administration's thinking on social safety net programs. It's so revealing that Bush and the Republicans' number one agenda after the 2004 elections was to "fix" Social Security, preaching fiscal discipline and long-term planning, allegedly to avert a crisis. The propositions were designed to bankrupt the program, draining money out of it by investing in private accounts instead of improving its solvency. Social Security is currently in a massive surplus and is in no immediate need of repeair. Whatever imbalance arises in at least a decade from the approaching baby boom retirement have practical and sensible solutions to make sure it continues to do its job -- for example, continuing to tax beyond the $90,000 cap.

Meanwhile, there were two institutions that were in crisis while Bush was preoccupied with destroying Social Security -- health care and the federal government. At a minimum of ten years from now, Social Security might possibly be paying out more than it's taking in, but at this very moment at least 40 million Americans have no health insurance. The federal budget deficit is $8.5 trillion. There's something a little wrong with that picture.

Republicans don't want to discuss real problems. They don't want to fix the most popular New Deal social safety net program. They don't care about the economic repercussions their fiscal policies could have on the next generation. They are not committed to the average American having a decent standard of living. Their ideological goal is to stuff the pockets of the rich and create a tiny minority of the population that controls the majority of the nation's wealth. All the while, they realize how unpopular their priorities are so they have to conceal their true meaning from the public. They "fix" things when they're breaking them, shrug their shoulders as the ground beneath society crumbles, behave like an 18 year-old girl with her first credit card at American Eagle, and are ashamed to come clean with their real agenda, signing their disastrous bills into law behind closed doors. Their cowardice never ceases to amaze me.