Bipartisan Disapproval

The first thing that comes to mind when I read a CBS news story on politics is Dan Rather’s forged memo fiasco.  That story ranks right up there with Rupert Murdoch’s phone tapping scandal.

But I put a lot of stock in the CBSnews poll because it agrees with me. Add it all up, subtract the silent majority, and only one-in-four Americans approve of the way congress is addressing the debt crisis.  I agree with the silent majority but I just can’t keep my mouth shut.

With our nation’s entry into Al Qaida’s War on September 11, 2001 came a call for shared sacrifice. It went unanswered due to President Bush’s call for Americans to “just keep shopping” to let the terrorists know their tactics wouldn’t win. The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 was Bush’s response to the anemic post 9-11 economy.  That coincided with a new front in the war and the invasion of Iraq. The shared sacrifice of war was addressed through cuts in taxes on dividends and capital gains. Meanwhile the costs of war kept piling up in terms of human casualties and in the government spending required to support those who actually were sharing the sacrifice.

Here’s a blurb from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Call to Sacrifice speech on April 28, 1942:

Although the treacherous attack on Pearl Harbor was the immediate cause of our entry into the war, that event found the American people spiritually prepared for war on a worldwide scale. We went into this war fighting. We know what we are fighting for. We realize that the war has become what Hitler originally proclaimed it to be-a total war.

Not all of us can have the privilege of fighting our enemies in distant parts of the world.

Not all of us can have the privilege of working in a munitions factory or a shipyard, or on the farms or in oil fields or mines, producing the weapons or the raw materials that are needed by our armed forces.

But there is one front and one battle where everyone in the United States-every man, woman, and child-is in action, and will be privileged to remain in action throughout this war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives, in our daily tasks. Here at home everyone will have the privilege of making whatever self-denial is necessary, not only to supply our fighting men, but to keep the economic structure of our country fortified and secure during the war and after the war.

This will require, of course, the abandonment not only of luxuries but of many other creature comforts.

Compare that to President George W. Bush’s War on Terror speech on September 20, 2001:

I ask for your patience with the delays and inconveniences that may accompany tighter security and for your patience in what will be a long struggle.

I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy. Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity. They did not touch its source. America is successful because of the hard work and creativity and enterprise of our people. These were the true strengths of our economy before September 11th, and they are our strengths today.

And finally, please continue praying for the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform, and for our great country. Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead.

Times change, I guess. But then again, maybe not.  Three-out-of-four disapprove of congress. The majority don’t approve of President Obama’s address to the nation’s debt either. Maybe we know its time to pay the debts of war. The war we are still fighting.

Time to share sacrifice with dividends and capital gains? Sure. For those wondering where to invest should those tax breaks go away, try buying war bonds. Win the war. End the sacrifice. Then we’ll wake up closer to the day we realize that war’s not worth the sacrifice. Debt? We can pay our bills, visit Mars and probably cure cancer with all the money we spend on wars.

But if revenue from ending tax breaks and loopholes is used to subsidize the expansion of government with its payroll, benefits and community-win, community-lose pork barrel projects (based on voter data) then they’re not raising the debt ceiling. They’re blowing a hole in the roof. Their shortsighted greed needs to get voted the hell out of office.

Increase our debt. Increase our taxes. But use the resources to end the war and pay its debt. Then we’d welcome any tax breaks they’d be kind enough to offer.

Anything less will get our bipartisan disapproval.