I guess I am a dreamer and an idealist. But I fear for our republic!
Nothing wrong with being a dreamer. I have my own dreams of how our budget would be shaped going forward.
But the Founding Fathers designed our system in such a manner that big change happens very slowly. Hence the Senate and its rules and the multi branched government.
If the Tea Party was dictator for a day, sure we could do what you want. But that is not realistic
A rationalist sees this is a huge victory in getting us back to fiscal sanity. A fanatic wants all or nothing and always ends up dissapointed
All the more reason to support Boehner while being clear this was insufficient. The debt ceiling and 2012 budget debates are ahead. If they feel they don't have your support they won't have any reason to fight harder.
Remember, Obama got none of the spending increases he wanted. Boehner got real cuts in spending with 1/2 of 1/3 of the government as his leverage. We're already over half-way into a 2011 fiscal year and Boehner's only been there a few months. This failure in passing a 2011 budget before last October was a Democrat-laid minefield.
Even the Tea Party only aimed for $100 billion cut from Obama's 2011 proposal. Boehner got $78.5 billion cut. That's far more than he expected. He was only so successful because he knew we were backing him up.
The 2012 budget will also disappoint you. I'm telling you know it will not be balanced. But it will have steeper cuts. Hopefully, they'll get a trillion in cuts. We'll see what they can pull off. This is not a problem that can be fixed in a single budget cycle. Cuts can only get so far, revenues need to rise which will only happen if the economy rebounds. The Democrats plan to push for tax hikes which might "raise revenue" but will surely drag on this anemic recovery.
We need to turn Democrats out in 2012. Every extra year they stand in the way of fiscal sanity, the harder it'll be to avert disaster. We cannot wait until 2016.
Now is NOT the time to go weak-kneed on Boehner.
The 17th killed the republic..been dead for along time.
The 17th killed the republic..been dead for a long time.