Finally…Representation in the House of Representatives
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Republicans for not only setting a standard on the budget issue, but for courageously standing by it. Late into the evening Friday, pundits, spectators, and I suspect even some congressmen, doubted that an agreement would be reached and that a shutdown of the government was inevitable.
Then, at the 11th hour, just as it seemed it wouldn't happen, word came that the two parties in the House had reached an agreement. An agreement which many found astounding: $38 Billion in budget reductions. I have to admit that even I was a bit surprised by the news. And I certainly wasn't the only conservative surprised by the large number (although still only a miniscule amount of our deficit).
I wish I had written it down or recorded it or something, because on one of the weekend shows, one of the Republican congressmen said something to the effect that no one in their right mind would have expected more than a $30 Billion concession from the Democrats. Yet there it was at 38! What an accomplishment.
I have to give major props to Speaker of the House Boehner for hanging tough, even as liberals like Harry Reid were accusing Republicans of wanting to kill women by taking away the availability of women's healthcare, which of course was a lie.
We actually now have men and women in the House of Representatives who really are representing the people who elected them to office in the first place. And they are not Democrats! Sadly, the Democrat party doesn't even look out for the best interest of its own party, much less conservatives.
Even when Democrats had control of all three branches of government, they never even introduced a budget for the nation. And as we all know, the budget proposed by President Obama was just a joke.
Yet this win is but a small victory in the major battles which lie ahead. In five weeks or less, the U.S. is expected to reach its debt ceiling of $14.294 trillion set just a short 14 months ago, this according to the U.S. Treasury Department at: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/charts/charts_debt.htm. Go ahead and check it out for yourself. It's sad; our debt was at $14.1 trillion just a month ago.
However, there is hope! The winds of change are blowing hard in Washington as Tea Party officials are settling in. These folks came in knowing that they had an agenda, and they seem to be determined to stick to it come hell or high water. And I think that determination has emboldened their fellow Republicans to rekindle their own determination.
I think that most reasonable folks agree that the debt ceiling will have to be raised again. But Speaker Boehner, with an army of resolute Republicans behind him, has made it clear that the ceiling will not be raised without some MAJOR concessions on behalf of the Democrats. As a nation, we cannot afford to allow ourselves to be placed in this position again, and I think the House Republicans will require legislation that will make sure we're not.
As they handle that conundrum, congress will also be taxed with coming up with a budget for fiscal year 2012. That, my friends will bring to mind a quote from the late Saddam Hussein: "The Mother of ALL Wars!"
However, this is an opportune time to for conservatives to–and I know liberals will find this an exaggeration–literally save this country. And we have the right man leading the charge: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who is head of the House Budget Committee. Is this guy tough or what? He's like John Wayne on steroids.
In the next ten years, his budget proposal promises to decrease our spending by over $6 trillion. This is true leadership, folks. This is what is needed. There will be painful cuts in many areas, including what many call the third rail of politics: Social Security and Medicare.
However, as Terry Paulson quotes Democrat Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of Obama's Deficit Commission, in a Townhall.com article, "I think we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. A lot of us…didn't see this last crisis as it came upon us, but this one is really easy to see. This debt and these deficits that we are incurring on an annual basis are like a cancer. They are truly going to destroy this country from within unless we have the common sense to do something about it."
As we all saw with the Obama 2012 budget proposal, though, the president chose to ignore his own deficit commission and propose a budget that would send the deficit into the stratosphere. Basically he was trying to leave it up to the Republicans to come up with a budget that would put that party in a position of looking like uncaring hawks.
As Townhall columnist John Ransom points out in his article, Tea Party Brokers Budget While Obama Retreats, "for the first time in 46 years Congress has actually reduced the level of spending year-over-year. Without voters making it absolutely clear in townhall meetings and rallies and protests that they are taxed enough already, we'd be looking at higher spending most certainly."
This means that those of us who truly want to save this great country have to keep doing what we've been doing. Keep rallying at the Tea Party rallies, keep calling and faxing your senators and representatives, keep voting in those who will insure reform, keep praying and keep the faith!
Then, at the 11th hour, just as it seemed it wouldn't happen, word came that the two parties in the House had reached an agreement. An agreement which many found astounding: $38 Billion in budget reductions. I have to admit that even I was a bit surprised by the news. And I certainly wasn't the only conservative surprised by the large number (although still only a miniscule amount of our deficit).
I wish I had written it down or recorded it or something, because on one of the weekend shows, one of the Republican congressmen said something to the effect that no one in their right mind would have expected more than a $30 Billion concession from the Democrats. Yet there it was at 38! What an accomplishment.
I have to give major props to Speaker of the House Boehner for hanging tough, even as liberals like Harry Reid were accusing Republicans of wanting to kill women by taking away the availability of women's healthcare, which of course was a lie.
We actually now have men and women in the House of Representatives who really are representing the people who elected them to office in the first place. And they are not Democrats! Sadly, the Democrat party doesn't even look out for the best interest of its own party, much less conservatives.
Even when Democrats had control of all three branches of government, they never even introduced a budget for the nation. And as we all know, the budget proposed by President Obama was just a joke.
Yet this win is but a small victory in the major battles which lie ahead. In five weeks or less, the U.S. is expected to reach its debt ceiling of $14.294 trillion set just a short 14 months ago, this according to the U.S. Treasury Department at: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/charts/charts_debt.htm. Go ahead and check it out for yourself. It's sad; our debt was at $14.1 trillion just a month ago.
However, there is hope! The winds of change are blowing hard in Washington as Tea Party officials are settling in. These folks came in knowing that they had an agenda, and they seem to be determined to stick to it come hell or high water. And I think that determination has emboldened their fellow Republicans to rekindle their own determination.
I think that most reasonable folks agree that the debt ceiling will have to be raised again. But Speaker Boehner, with an army of resolute Republicans behind him, has made it clear that the ceiling will not be raised without some MAJOR concessions on behalf of the Democrats. As a nation, we cannot afford to allow ourselves to be placed in this position again, and I think the House Republicans will require legislation that will make sure we're not.
As they handle that conundrum, congress will also be taxed with coming up with a budget for fiscal year 2012. That, my friends will bring to mind a quote from the late Saddam Hussein: "The Mother of ALL Wars!"
However, this is an opportune time to for conservatives to–and I know liberals will find this an exaggeration–literally save this country. And we have the right man leading the charge: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who is head of the House Budget Committee. Is this guy tough or what? He's like John Wayne on steroids.
In the next ten years, his budget proposal promises to decrease our spending by over $6 trillion. This is true leadership, folks. This is what is needed. There will be painful cuts in many areas, including what many call the third rail of politics: Social Security and Medicare.
However, as Terry Paulson quotes Democrat Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of Obama's Deficit Commission, in a Townhall.com article, "I think we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. A lot of us…didn't see this last crisis as it came upon us, but this one is really easy to see. This debt and these deficits that we are incurring on an annual basis are like a cancer. They are truly going to destroy this country from within unless we have the common sense to do something about it."
As we all saw with the Obama 2012 budget proposal, though, the president chose to ignore his own deficit commission and propose a budget that would send the deficit into the stratosphere. Basically he was trying to leave it up to the Republicans to come up with a budget that would put that party in a position of looking like uncaring hawks.
As Townhall columnist John Ransom points out in his article, Tea Party Brokers Budget While Obama Retreats, "for the first time in 46 years Congress has actually reduced the level of spending year-over-year. Without voters making it absolutely clear in townhall meetings and rallies and protests that they are taxed enough already, we'd be looking at higher spending most certainly."
This means that those of us who truly want to save this great country have to keep doing what we've been doing. Keep rallying at the Tea Party rallies, keep calling and faxing your senators and representatives, keep voting in those who will insure reform, keep praying and keep the faith!