Let's examine the actual history behind our current predicament. It's not what most of you (especially liberals) think! Five points: 1) Nearly everyone who understands economics believes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will bankrupt us at the national and state level unless we either increase taxes or rein in the costs of those three programs, 2) when they created them, Democrats promised that Social Security and Medicare would be SELF-SUSTAINING (via FICA taxes withheld), 3) Democrats created and over-sold the sub-prime mortgage program that was the primary cause of our current recession, 4) ALL these "ENTITLEMENT" programs were created by Democrats, and 5) ALL these "ENTITLEMENT" programs were mismanaged primarily by Democrats.
Think about those for a moment. We're about to be driven into bankruptcy at the national and state level by programs that were ALL created by Democrats. Hmmmmm. Doesn't creating them mean they've had primary responsibility to keep them solvent and well-regulated? Don't they owe it to the country to control their own creations? Apparently, they cannot control their progressive impulses to create unaffordable programs any more than they can manage them responsibly. All their progressive impulses are getting us where exactly? Wouldn't it be a good idea to plan farther ahead than until the next election? For the sake of the country I mean? Or isn't that really all that important?
Democrats historically have refused to do the responsible thing and keep their programs solvent and then they have the audacity to complain about Republican legislators' efforts to establish the appropriate boundaries and regulations that will keep them solvent without bankrupting our country. Democrats have steadfastly refused to responsibly manage ANY of these programs and then they complain loudly when Republicans try to do what they should have been doing all along. Isn't that more than a tad irresponsible and hypocrical?
The Democratic approach to social programs is interesting isn't it? They promise that every new program will pay for itself but they NEVER do! Then, AFTER they've gotten us committed to these expensive programs, they keep telling us they have to keep raising taxes to pay for them. It's the same as if you went out and bought a house you couldn't afford and then told your employer that he HAD to give you a raise for YOUR BAD DECISION! Oh, wait, that's how Democrats got us into our current problem! They got people into houses, the mortgages for which they couldn't afford, then (after the mortgages weren't committed to) Democratic legislators told the rest of the country WE have to pay for those people's bad decisions! How many times do we have to experience this scenario before we wake up to the fact that we're being duped?
The sub-prime mortgage program was ALSO an "entitlement" program. Democrats decided that poorer people who couldn't afford to buy a house were entitled to have one at OTHERS' risk. "The American Dream" used to be working hard and/or increasing one's education so you could eventually afford a house of your own. Now "The American Dream" is getting a house at others' risk and/or expense. Living in an apartment like I, my wife, our kids and everyone else in my generation have much of our lives until we could afford a house isn't good enough for people who aren't motivated like we were to get enough education or to start a business so we could afford it by way of our own hard work. WE believed that anything worth having is worth working for and saving for until we could afford to buy it. We believed in self-sacrifice, not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of our neighbors, community and country. So much for the sense of responsibility and a strong work ethic that built this country and made it successful.
And don't forget! Democrats also had the greatest ability by far to control ALL these programs than did Republicans. After all, Democrats have held a veto-proof majority in the House or Senate or both(!) for about half of the past 60 years while Republicans have had a veto-proof majority in either house exactly ZERO times! Those who had the greatest responsibility AND the greatest ability to lead our country in a fiscally responsible way have totally failed to do so.
Oh, you say, we need bailouts and we have to increase taxes on 'the rich' to pay for all those entitlements. Wait just a minute! Those 'rich folks' already pay half of their income to taxes and fully half of Americans pay NO federal tax at all! The rich paying half their income to taxes is unfair (because they're not paying more!?!?) but half of Americans living off the other half IS fair? HALF of Americans get a free ride? R U Kidding Me? No wonder so many people don't have a problem NOT working and letting the rest of us just hand them enough to live on. It's because we're stupid enough to swallow that nonsense.
Maybe you haven't noticed but increasing federal personal income tax rates on the wealthy like Democrats want to do or on anyone else does NOT put more money into making either Social Security OR Medicare stable. The money for those comes from the FICA tax, not personal income taxes. At least that's what Democrats promised us all these years since they created them! Explain to me again please how increasing the personal tax rate on the rich puts more money into FICA and, therefore, stabilize Social Security and Medicare because I don't get it.
Such programs are more examples how unchecked progressivism (socialism) is not such a good thing over the long haul. Why isn't it good enough for today's progressives and most Democrats that history has proven 100% of the time that this path leads to national problems if not complete ruin? Why must we prove it again? Aren't we indeed in the process of doing exactly that? At what point do we say we've (re-)proven it sufficiently and we should stop it ... preferably BEFORE it's too late for our country!?!?!?
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