You are wrong about the tea party. It is true they are largely concerned with fiscal issues, but I think that is their strength. They are a grass-roots movement that could play a huge role in Repubican fiscal policy centered on getting a handle on the growing national debt through entitlement reform which is the engine driving the national debt. My one concern about the Tea Party is that is is very inexperienced. Politically it was born yesterday and does not seem to have much knowledge about what has gone before. Nor has it developed an philosphical foundation. This, along with its Libertarian streak, has caused it to exhibit a purist mentality that could limit its influence within the party. But I believe, and hope, that as it gains experience and learns from its mistakes it will develop a greater understanding of the importance of flexibility. But there is no split between the Tea Party and the GOP, nor is one likely to develop. But I do agree with you, Red, that both parties are responsible for the current national debt. In the 90's the Republicans won the House with the promise they would change Washington, and instead they got changed by Washington. We continued to spend and spend and spend. The debt occurred because we spent too much; not because we taxed too little. I think even the Democrats have come to this realization, but they simply cannot give up their love of taxes. Passing a tax on the wealthy will not solve the problem; there are only so many wealthy families out there. We could tax the top 1% of income-earners at 100% and it would barely put a dent in the national debt. The only way we are going to pay off the #14 trillion debt is by cutting spending and the way to do that is by making fundamental reforms to medicare and social security and by passing a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget. Bashing Baby Boomers? Never heard anyone, Republican or Democrat, doing that.
It is their inflexibility that is their problem. Asking the GOP to make "pledges" that inhibit any chance of reaching compromises with the other party is NOT what the American People want right now. Both the Democrats 2006 and 2008 victories and the republican House 2010 victory was about changing the way Washington works. People are tired of the partisan bickering and refusals to find common ground. I think there already is one between the GOP Washington establishment and the Tea Party newbies. Like the Blue Dog democrats before them, their influence may be ephemeral. Honestly, you must admity that it is both. When Bush cut income while raising spending the crisis was born. The tax cuts were always supposed to be temporary but it got extended. They just need to revert to the rates they paid in the prosperous '90's. A fair rate. Something is wrong when the top 1% gets far richer when the economy and the bottom 99% are doing poorly. They are not overtaxed. They are paying the lowest taxes they have ever paid. Rwilliams seems to blame all evil upon them.
I kind of have to disagree with something you posted. The Tea Party. I feel that it started with great intentions. A huge group of Americans that felt like government was getting out of control. But then it turned into the far right of the right wing, littered with social conservatives, and that's where it lost me.
For us younger Americans that have not had any political power at all because of our age, we look at what the debt our country has and wonder how in the ef did this happen? I'm 40 years old and I am looking at the massive debt. The generation before us generated all this debt. Us younger Americans didn't have the political power to cause this.[/quote]Amigo, if you are 40, you are not one of the younger Americans. Welcome to middle age. The vast majority of this debt has happened since you were a voter. You are part of the problem and the solution. 40 is a bit old to still be a ageist. It's going to be operating against you before you know it. :lol:
The Clinton White House was the first time boomers were in controll. I think that Bush II was put in power by the last gasp Nixon-Reagan zealots.
Amigo, if you are 40, you are not one of the younger Americans. Welcome to middle age. The vast majority of this debt has happened since you were a voter. You are part of the problem and the solution. 40 is a bit old to still be a ageist. It's going to be operating against you before you know it. :lol:[/QUOTE] Damn you had to remind me that I'm getting old. I still can't believe I'm floppin 40 years old. Still all the congressman and senators were in the generation before me. I voted for ghw bush twice, clinton once ( couldn't deal with dole) and gw twice. I can't deal with the ACLU types. I can't see me voting democrat again. I voted for M. L. But after the obamacare I can't see me votin for her again. Besides that it was boomers that were the ones calling the shots in dc over the last twenty years that have gotten us 14 trillion in debt and it will be my generation that will have to pay for it in massive tax hikes once the shiz hits the fan. I have voted since I was 18 so I guess I do have skin in the game. I regret being in highschool still when Reagan was president. I never got a chance to vote for him. Ronald Reagan has been the politician that influenced how I vote more than any other. My respect for Reagan is why I'm a conservative. My dad is a staunch conservative. He and sabanfan could be brothers ideologically
The one person that despises drug users as much as my dad would be sabanfan. To my dad if you smoke a joint you just as soon be shooting heroin and smoking crack. He would just as soon shoot someone smoking a joint as talk to them.
Somehow, I don't think so. You have been misled again. I was around when Reagan was President and I voted for him. He ran as a conservative, but he presided as a moderate. Reagan tripled the Gross National Debt, from $900 billion to $2.7 trillion. Every year, Reagan asked for more foreign-aid money than the Congress was willing to spend. Reagan also raised taxes considerably with the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. TEFRA—the largest tax increase in American history—was designed to raise $214.1 billion over five years, and took back many of the business tax savings enacted the year before. It also imposed withholding on interest and dividends, a provision later repealed over the president's objection. But this was just the beginning. In 1982 Reagan supported a five-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax and higher taxes on the trucking industry. Total increase: $5.5 billion a year. In 1983, Reagan called for, and received, Social Security tax increases of $165 billion over seven years. A year later came Reagan's Deficit Reduction Act to raise $50 billion. Yep, with taxes. Reagan was a smart Republican who knew he had to be practical, not inflexible, and realized that he was working for ALL of the American people, not just the Republican ones. Reagan compromised many time with House Speaker Tip O'Neill to get the business of the nation done and the two were quite friendly. Todays Republican party is NOT the Republican party of Ronald Reagan.
I was too young then to understand economics. I know Reagan made me feel proud to be an American. I remember seeing my dad rant about Carter , especially when the rescue attempt failed. Reagan made it seem like America could do anything
