THE CONSERVATIVE VIEW

BY RUSSELL TURNER

FISCAL CLIFF AND CREDIT CARDS


For several weeks there have been many stories in the main stream media about the fiscal cliff that our country is poised to go over in January of 2013. I guess it a breaking story to many of the people in our nation, but there have been many of us who have warned about this day for a very long time. I guess it is just human nature for all of us to not want to be concerned about such trivial things that go on in Washington DC; we would rather be watching some sporting event or lounging around the house.


I am going to make a prediction about the whole sorry state of affairs that our country’s economy is currently in. I feel that very few Americans can grasp how bad the situation is concerning the financial storm that is about to hit all of us. Our newly re-elected president keeps repeating his mantra about making the rich pay their fair share and somehow that will cure all ills. Even the Republican leadership claims to have a plan to fix the economy. While there are two plans out there, neither one will balance the budget anytime soon.


I definitely like the Republican plan over the president’s one, but whichever side prevails the sad fact remains that we are at a time of reckoning. What we are experiencing has come about over several years because of we citizens allowing ourselves to be bribed with our own money or special favors from the government. John Adams said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."


Our nation generates huge sums of money through tax revenues, but our spending has gone far past that. In the event of a war or natural disaster I feel that it is acceptable to borrow money, but we have gotten into a bad habit of allowing politicians whose only real desire is to get re-elected to be in control of the cash box. One of the biggest problems that I have with the president’s plan is that the White House wants Congress to give Mr. Obama the authority to increase the debt limit, whenever he wants, as much as he wants.


Everyone knows an example of a spoiled child that doesn’t take care of what his parents give him. I have seen people give their child a credit card and before you know it the card is maxed out and the child has nothing to show for it. Giving our president an unlimited credit card makes about as much sense as giving one to a spoiled child. Our founders gave us the ability to have checks and balances to protect our nation from bad fiscal policies. If we Americans are stupid and gullible enough to throw away those checks and balances we deserve to go off of the fiscal cliff.

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