The Politics of Disorder

So, first off, this post will be biased.  I'm extremely liberal, probably half way to socialist.  I understand my bias, but I'm not apologizing for it.

Currently, the US government is 3 days away from defaulting on their obligations.  Opponents can argue all they want about the exact date this will happen or how much money we really have left, but no matter what, we will run out of money and lose our AAA credit rating (which I'm not quite sure how we get got anyways?).  For the past six weeks, Republicans and Democrats have argued with each other, and bashed each other and assumed that each side is the National Economist Extraordinaire and knows exactly what's right for America.

First off -- politicians need to stop saying shit like "America elected me to do this" or "Americans told me they don't want this".  Politicians -- American didn't tell you shit.  Nobody filled out a list of issues they cared about when they voted.  Some voted for you probably because you were the incumbent.  Some voted because they always vote along party lines (I'm one of those people).  Some voted for you because of your stance on social issues.  There was no boxes to check to signal "I hate Obamacare", or nothing to signal "Taxes are evil and anyone who supports them should be shot."  Republicans, you won some seats back in 2010, I get it.  But it's split government, so shut the fuck up about being giving mandates to change the way the country was going.  No such mandate was given.  And please remember you represent ALL people in your district.  If you won in a landslide in your district, you probably received 55% of the vote, which means 45% of the people voted for someone else.  They don't agree with you, they don't care.  YOU STILL REPRESENT THESE PEOPLE.

Currently, John Boehner is adding a Balanced Budget Amendment to the current debt ceiling increase bill.  This has no place in this bill.  Whether you agree with the idea of the amendment is irrelevant.  We've spent the money, now we need to pay for it.  If you feel government spends too much, then change it in next year's budget.  Focus on 2012.  Forcing this down our throats right now is just the type of behavior that has prevented this bill from passing so far.  And I promise you, this amendment will not be approved by 3/4 of states.  So give it up.

And stop bitching that the Democrats have no plan.  Am I missing something?  Did Obama not have a plan to increase revenue by removing certain tax deductions and cut $1.3 trillion from federal spending?  Does Reid not have a plan they are voting on today?  They have plans, they're not your plans Republicans, but they're equally as valid.

And finally, let me just make a quick case on why I believe tax increases are important.  We are so far in debt that continuously cutting federal spending will not get us out of this crisis.  It just won't.  And furthermore, MOST Americans support the programs the government is running.  They want social security, they want Medicare, they want their food stamps and unemployment benefits, they want borders defended and passports processed.  At a certain point, you have to say that all of these programs are worth keeping and the way to do that is to generate more revenue.  I'm willing to pay more to ensure Social Security and Medicare are still there for me.  Why isn't everyone else?  This isn't private versus government plans.  If we privatized social security and didn't make saving for retirement mandatory, who is going to help the person who didn't save any money or lost it all in the market?  Is he just left homeless until he dies?  I certainly don't want to rely on private organizations with religious or societal biases to fill this gap.  The poor man could be an atheist gay, after all.  The government is the most impartial body that can handle this.

OK, so sort of a rant.  But I'm sick of this shit.  Let's raise taxes, let's slowly cut some spending, and let's move on with our lives.  I already hate conservatives for their stances on social issues, but this is just driving another nail in the coffin in my respect.

I'm done.  I need to move to Canada. 

I'm back......

After a 6 year hiatus, I've been talked into blogging again.  So here I return.  I doubt there will be much interesting on here, likely lots of politics, some updates on how I'm planning for the GMAT and grad school, maybe so happenings on my life and my partner.  We shall see.