On Political Compromise

It's been a week where the Bush-wing Republicans have been speaking out once again for the need to compromise and how the "new" Republican party couldn't nominate people like Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush. I speak primarily of course, of Colin Powell and Jeb Bush and their thinly veiled disparagement of us Tea Party patriots.

Let us take a brief history lesson, shall we?

In 2006, Republicans were thrown out in a big way from Congress, losing control of both the House and the Senate. The federal deficits had grown from the end of the Newt Gingrich era in 1999 of a thirty-five year low 17 billion dollars to over 500 billion. The people were sick of the spending, the growth in government, and threw the Republican majorities out, looking for a change.

In 2007 the Democrats under Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took over and the 2007 fiscal deficit doubled, to over a trillion dollars. And George W. Bush, being the typical namesake of his wing of the Republican party, didn't fight against this doubled deficit. Instead of taking a hard line stance and vetoing this outrage, he compromised and signed it instead. This wasn't exactly the change the voters had been looking for.

In 2008 Barack Obama was elected President, giving full control of the elected branches of government to the Democrats. The fiscal deficit that year nearly doubled again and was 1.8 trillion dollars. This included the continued bailouts of the UAW, and failed stimulus, all signed by Obama.

In 2009 the health care fiasco took place. The Affordable Care act ("ObamaCare") was rammed through the House and Senate with no Republican support and nearly two-thirds of the public against it. So much for compromise, eh? The fiscal deficit that year was 1.6 trillion dollars. No official budget was ever passed by the Democrats in Congress, and the spending from the previous year, including the trillion dollar stimulus was carried over.

In 2010, the budget, still carrying built-in baseline spending and the refusal of the Democrats in the House and Senate to pass a 2010 budget continued the built in baseline spending. In November, the voters threw the Democrats out of the House, and thinned their numbers in the Senate from 60 to 53. In January 2011, the Republican controlled House passed a budget that was deemed "dead on arrival" by Harry Reid in the Senate, and disparaged by the President. The Senate once again, did not bother passing a budget. The deficit for this year: 1.2 trillion.

We're still waiting on official numbers for fiscal 2011 since it runs until the end of September this year, 2012. But they're not going to be any better than FY 2010 since the Senate STILL has not passed a budget, and the softball leadership of John Boehner and Eric Cantor in the House refuses to shut down the government to force action. They instead continue to compromise with continuing resolutions that continue the Pelosi/Reid trillion dollar deficits.

So this is what compromise has gotten us. An out of control spending government, no matter who controls it.

The American people do not want compromise. They want a responsible government populated by responsible people. People who represent us, not dictate to us.

There's a reason why people like Senator Jim Demint and Congressman Paul Ryan are painted as "extremist". It's because they actually want to cut the budget. Not expand it, or just slow the growth of it. They want to cut it. And that said, several organizations have said that even Paul Ryan's "extremist" budgets may not be enough to save the United States from fiscal disaster. That's how knee jerk the Democrats and media are to any slowing in spending, no matter how modest it is. Incidentally, it's also why Newt Gingrich was forced out by his own party. He had successfully shrunk the deficits to nearly zero by refusing to compromise with Clinton and his own party, and disgruntled politicians in both parties were feeling the pinch of less money to spread around for political favors and votes. That, in Washington, is a high crime and ethical violation you know. And it's why most politicians and media types scream shrilly whenever they even think someone is serious about cutting budgets. Less money for them and all their friends.

Until more people like Demint, Ryan and Gingrich get a hold of the purse strings, and people like Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell are thrown out of leadership roles, nothing will ever change. But that's what primary elections are for. This isn't going to change overnight because we haven't gotten to this point overnight. Continued punishment of all these politicians that spend money that isn't theirs is required. Continued defense of people like Paul Ryan and Jim Demint is also required.

This is a lifetime commitment if things are going to be changed. The Republicans have been compromising their principles since throwing Gingrich out, and it's gotten us to 15.8 trillion dollars in debt, over 100% of our gross national production. That's the de facto definition of bankrupt, folks. And there's no getting away from that, no matter what political label you slap on yourself.

And when the fiscal house of cards finally comes tumbling down, the spending cuts will be immediate, and on everyone. There will be no social security, medicare, medicaid, SCHIP, food stamps, welfare, or disability. For anyone. That is what compromise will get you. It's long past time for that.