Slash and Spend Republicans

By: Bridget Gibson

"People have so manipulated the concept of freedom that it finally boils down to the right of the stronger and richer to take from the weaker and poorer whatever they still have."

- Theodor Adorno

Yearning for the good old days of the "tax and spend" Democrats (the time when we didn't spend more than we took in) seems to be the lot for all Americans. The federal surplus of $236 Billion for the year ended September 30, 2001 (the last budget day of the last budget under Bill Clinton) has turned into a projected deficit of $390 Billion for the year ending September 30, 2003. That's a difference of $626 Billion between income and outgo - a textbook illustration of the difference between fiscal responsibility and dismal failure to meet any reasonable expectation that our elected and appointed officials understand even the most basic accounting procedures.

Not since 1992, under the auspices of George Herbert Walker Bush budget, has our country witnessed such a profound lack of fiscal prudence in expenditures given the Presidential Seal. Perhaps this inability to make things add up runs in this particular family, or perhaps having received an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree from Yale has allowed George Jr. to believe he might be able to fudge his numbers a bit. After all, he was a "C" student.

They say a fish rots from the head down, and my nose tells me this one is past ripe. This inability to hold oneself accountable for the accounting that is done has gone a step too far. I don't know about you, but my own accounting doesn't get blamed on anyone but me. I don't get to blame the dog when it needs to go to the vet, I don't get to blame the car when it needs repair, and I haven't noticed that my mechanic takes any other woes into account when it is time to settle the bill. I don't get to leave my debts behind for my child and I don't try to hand my mistakes to my neighbors.

In this world of 'accountability', it appears the only one who isn't ever held accountable is George W. Bush.

If I hear anyone else whine that the things that are happening on his shift are not his fault and he is not to be blamed for the economy, the state of the union, the coming war with Iraq, the fiasco in Afghanistan, the flair up of tensions with Korea, and the mess that he has made of relationships with 90% of the international community, I do believe that I will become violently ill.

Since he has been in office, it seems that his every action has been contrary to the good of our nation. To date, he has not met an environmental safeguard that he hasn't trashed, a budget he hasn't busted, a country he hasn't threatened, or a war he wouldn't create.

If we live through the reign of the red ink Republicans, I can only hope and pray that we survive the slash and bomb Bushes.