Republicans need a spanking

Recently, the Senate finally approved a plan regarding the Bush tax cut conundrum. Unfortunately, and to no surprise, Senate democrats meekly obeyed GOP demands to keep lower tax rates on income, capital gains and dividends for even the richest Americans.

The plan is to extend cuts beyond Dec. 31, voting 81 to 19 to keep the cuts for another two years.

While this is all a really nice bipartisan team effort and everything, I can’t help but be a little miffed.

I have said it before and I will say it again–democrats need to grow a spine. I understand that we lost the House to the republicans, but you all have got to get yourselves together.

Have we forgotten about that nasty little letter that all 42 republican senators signed to Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid?

To refresh your memory, republicans vowed to block legislative action on every issue being considered by Congress until the fight over extending the Bush-era tax cuts was resolved.

“While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike,” the letter said.

So basically, republicans were going to sit and pout about not getting what they wanted instead of being the active congressional leaders they so eloquently portrayed in their lofty campaigns (which ironically enough, just so happen cost a lot of money—interesting).

Is it just me or are these little infantile tantrums getting to be a bit embarrassing.  Seriously, where are their mothers?

Perhaps the GOP needs a good spanking or at least someone to help console them.

I mean someone has got to tell these petulant children that eventually you have to rip off the band-aid in order to heal. Our nation owes 13.7 trillion dollars! I hate to break it to you republicans, but there isn’t a painless way of getting out of a hole that deep. America is going to have to suffer before it can have any hope of recovering.

Don’t get me wrong, democrats will need to meet you halfway, too. Spending needs to be cut and taxes need to be raised.  

That being said, tax cuts should only be reserved for those only making under $250,000. Republicans would love to argue that the economy will not grow until you give the rich people their money back. Apparently, rich people “aid in stimulating the economy.”

This is what I like to call—a lie.

Sure, Republicans stimulate the economy—their own personal economy, that is.

Recently reported in the News & Observer, only 3% of new job growth comes from the rich.  Why? Because filthy rich Americans tend to be greedy. They invest their money for themselves; they don’t just give it away to the nation’s economic well-being.

We’ve seen this before, people! Let’s pick on the “perfect republican,” shall we? President Ronald Reagan was an economic genius.

How can we forget that brilliant “trickle down theory” of his? Basically, Reagan’s idea was that if we let the rich people get even richer, it will eventually trickle down to all of us.

Yeah, that worked out well, didn’t it?

Then again, Reagan also cut a profusion of taxes without cutting spending. The only thing “our hero” forgot was that when you cut money, you have to borrow it from somewhere else.

Those good ole’ tax cuts only create more debt which—wait, wasn’t that what we were trying to fix in the first place? Smart man.

President Reagan ran our deficit up more than any president that proceeded him, leaving America with more debt than we have ever experienced.

The nation didn’t recover until the end of the Clinton administration (when the nation saw a surplus, mind you).

The Bush administration copied Reagan’s not-so-intelligent strategy of cutting taxes and borrowing the difference. Now, with Obama in the White House, republicans are blame shifting Bush’s mistakes on the “new kid in school.”

You see, this is when the mothers should step in.

“Don’t blame Obama for your economic woes, children! Remember, when you point your finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you.”

Let’s not forget that during 6 of President Bush’s 8 years in office, Republicans had control over both houses of Congress.

So, these money issues we’re having are not just a democratic problem, or even a republican problem. National debt is every one’s problem.

Now, the Reagan administration wasn’t completely negligent. They at least knew that eventually people have to fund the services provided to them. Reagan’s capital gains were never went below 20%, and dividends were never taxed at less than 28%.

In comparison, Obama plans to raise the capital gains tax to a maximum of 20% on the top tax on dividends only goes to just 20%.

So, what would Reagan do?

He would agree with Obama.

It is easy to generalize a solution to fixing our money problems. It’s easy to say “we should cut spending,” but where would you cut it?

The New York Times has a tool on their website where you can “cut national debt,” through taxation and/or spending cuts.

It only took me about 10 minutes to fly through how I would “change the future of our nation.” It was actually kind of inspiring, but then reality set in.

I am not a Senator or a Representative of the House. Heck, I can’t even vote yet!

A friend of mine suggested I write to my district congressional leader, but something tells me that the nurse that took Bob Etheridge’s seat probably doesn’t agree with me or even understand what I am talking about in the first place.

Sure, I am upset that the House has fallen to the republicans, but our time will come, democrats. From what I have experienced growing up, a hissy-fit usually ends with a time out.

Elisabeth Jones, Staff Writer