Apply ‘R’ word to government

By The Baltimore Examiner Newspaper
- 8/28/08

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, when Barack Obama gives his historic acceptance speech tonight, he even mentions fiscal responsibility?

He has been pretty good about lobbing the ‘R’ word as rhetorical campaign grenades when he’s talking about what citizens owe the greater common good.

But has he mentioned the No. 1 priority? What government owes us? Every mention along those lines hints at traditional liberal programs of stealing from the “rich” and, well, keeping most of it in the Democratic clique.

Actually, governments of every persuasion at all levels now are taxing the future. Our children and grandchildren are very generous, thank you, President Bush. They just don’t know it yet. Now is the time for true change.

A daughter and son of Maryland will have immense power to do that if Obama wins. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s heart may be in San Francisco now, but her roots are in Baltimore’s Little Italy. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is the highest ranking member of Congress from Maryland in history.

They should use that clout to ask Obama to mention that our national debt right now stands at $9.6 trillion (TRILLION!).
Ask him to level with us on uncounted billions in unfunded public retirement liabilities.

Ask him to hint that the no-drill, no-nuke, alternative-energy mantra is an impossibility wrapped in deception. That if we covered our nation in windmills, starved half the children in the world to burn biofuels and exploited every power technology on the horizon, we still would not have enough.

Ask him to concede that with almost half the U.S. population dependent on tax dollars already — if you include “private” businesses and industries getting most of their revenue from governments — the other half might get a little tired of working double to pay for it.

Ask him to confess: That Democrats’ vague and comforting national health care plans would merely add to our national bankruptcy and do nothing about our self-inflicted ills; that most money extorted from taxpayers on the weeping pretext of helping “the children” or “the poor” gets stolen or wasted before ever reaching them; that advocates of government forcing Americans to do more actually enjoy wealth beyond the grasp of working citizens.

Tell Obama he is in a unique position because he can serendipitously blame Republicans for most of the mess we’re in. He can remind us that the last two balanced federal budgets were delivered by Democratic presidents, that John F. Kennedy was the first to push tax cuts for the rich and current Democratic national health care proposals eerily resemble Richard Nixon’s 1971 plan.

Now is the time to shout that ‘R’ word, Barack Obama, but not at us, at your own party.

Make up your own mind!
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