Archive → July, 2011
The Debt Ceiling Debate: A Matters of Opinion Critique
The one thing that has been “the talk of the town” these past couple of weeks, at least as far as politics is concerned, is whether or not the debt ceiling should be raised, and what kind of deal should be cut. The scenario, originally, was playing out a little to my disapointment; just like in the 90′s, government was going to come to a standstill (as a conservative I can’t say I would notice, but regardless) and the Republicans in the House would be blamed for it, ushering in another 4 years under Democrat rule. It’s not so much that I’m in favor of raising the debt ceiling. The part of me that recognizes the insanity of just letting government spend and spend and spend until we’re taxing Americans making more than 30 grand a year 100% (don’t snicker, it could happen) tells me that if we don’t start making some tough decisions now, we won’t have ANY decisions to make at a later date.
However, the part that recognizes the political mistakes that were made in the 90′s and also the part that recognizes an increase in the debt ceiling is only a drop in the bucket when looking at all of the money we owe takes over at this point and, begrudgingly, my brain allows it. It sucks. There’s no better word, really. It sucks that here we are, running up to the end of July, and we have to increase the debt ceiling in order to make good on our INTEREST for our debt, not to mention our ever increasing deficit in general. But, if fiscally responsible people are going to be able to WIN in 2012 and make sure that we have any kind of future worth talking about, we have to raise the debt ceiling; but, we don’t have to do it without a fight.
And that is what has surprised me, over the past few days, regarding this whole mess. Republicans are presenting multiple options and ideas, and all that Obama and the Democrats can say in response is: We want to raise taxes. That’s it! They’re burying themselves with this; the public is seeing that the Republicans are trying to work out a way to fulfill their obligations to their constituents (which, as Republicans, more oft than not means a pledge to not raise taxes on ANYONE in such a volatile economy like the one we are in right now) while simultaneously trying to make sure that we, as a nation, are able to pay our bills and not get downgraded to a Aa rating.
Now, I’m not going to lie. When this whole debacle started up, I was not exactly “glass half full” about how the Republicans were handling it; but, then again, I’m not in Washington getting paid six figures, so I guess I should just chalk it up as that. But then, in the past couple of days, after reading the articles about President Obama’s reactions to the Republicans’ plans (“time to eat our peas”, “call my bluff”, etc.) I started to feel like he was getting flustered, and Obama doesn’t do well when he’s flustered.
On top of that, he has a birthday party planned for August 3rd with famous musicians singing songs to him, charging people an arm and a leg, all set up in Chicago? THAT would look bad. Correction, WILL look bad, no matter which way this goes. Plus, as a recent Gallup poll has shown today, Obama loses to “Generic Republican Candidate” 47% to 39%. All of these things put together make for a difficult political atmosphere for the President right now.
Ultimately, Republicans should hold their ground as long as they can ; they should make sure that they can drag as many spending cuts out of this administration as is possible, and if it looks like it is possible, they should push for a “balanced budget amendment” to the Constitution. But, at the end of the day on August 1st, they are going to have to raise that debt ceiling, or else they risk making the same mistake that Gingrich and the Republican House made in the 90′s; and while not all Republicans are fiscally responsible, taking a gamble versus electing a President whom is not known to be exactly a “penny pincher” is an easy decision for anyone who is worried about the future of this nation.
