PrintSeptember 10, 2008
Democrats: Practice What You Preach
I read a series of articles quoting various Democrats (including The Chosen One) reacting to President Bush's proposed plan to drawdown troops stationed in Iraq. The essence of these comments was eloquently put by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). He stated
"At a time when the war in Iraq costs $10 billion each month, Americans are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, and our economy is struggling, we cannot continue down the path that President Bush and Senator McCain propose: writing blank check after blank check."
Senator Reed followed up with "Our proposal to responsibly redeploy American troops out of Iraq will send a message to the Iraqi government that it must do more," Reed said. "And it will encourage more progress toward Iraqi self-sufficiency." Many of these sentiments have been parroted by Senator Chosen One (D-IL).
I have a couple of questions: since when has the Democratic Party cared about a) promoting self sufficiency or b) writing blank checks?
If the Democrats are now concerned about governmental expenditures enabling individuals who need to be more self sufficient or that the government can not continue to write costly blank checks then there are some additional budgetary areas that warrant examination. For example, unemployment and welfare benefits in FY 2007 cost roughly $294 billion. That equates to $24.5 billion a month, more than double the Iraq War. Unlike the Iraq War, I do no see droves of Democrats lining up to preach self sufficiency or protesting the plethora of "blank checks" that have been written by Congress for this program. In FY 2007, Social Security consumed $586 billion. That comes out to almost $49 billion/month in expenditures, roughly 5 times that of the Iraq War. I have not heard the requisite chorus from Democrats that Americans are still paying $4 dollar a gallon for gasoline and can not shoulder this costly burden.
I could make similar statements about the hundreds of billions we are throwing at Medicaid and Medicare. I can also point out that the Democrats don't care about the dependency they enable or the blank checks that are cut on a yearly basis to perpetuate these institutions. All in all, these programs total over $1 trillion dollars every year. That equates to over $83 billion per month. Over eight times more than the Iraq war.
Finally, US expenditures for Iraq will decline drastically as US combat forces leave. The same can not be said about social spending in this country. It will not decrease, in fact, it will increase in perpetuity. If the Democrats are decrying the financial strain of the Iraq War they need to stare at those social spending figures. Those programs, not the Iraq War, will be the anaconda that slowly chokes the life out of this country and its economy. I welcome and would actively support those that are willing to embrace the ideas of self sufficiency and preventing "blank check" spending, regardless of their political affiliation. To Senator Jack Reed and those Democrats that are finally on this band wagon I simply reply - practice what you preach and you will have this nation's gratitude.
