Chris Adamo
The GOP political establishment fiscal cliff sellout
By Chris Adamo
Apparently Republican career politicians inside the Beltway have a collective death wish. Faced with what they believed to be political impasse, they opted to completely abandon their conservative base and give their full support to the abhorrent and fiscally reckless policies of Barack Obama and the Democrats. Of course Republicans would argue that since Obama won reelection in November, they must acquiesce to his uncontested leadership. Sadly, they give no thought to the possibility that perhaps it is their constant inexcusable capitulation to the liberal establishment which has, more than any other factor, empowered the left as the dominant political force in Washington.
The grim reality of the nation's current financial debacle is that each and every year the government spends in excess of a trillion dollars more than it can afford. And while deficits have been a fact of life since the nation's founding, the current levels are unsustainable, and portend an eventual economic implosion if the situation is not shortly corrected. But rather than addressing the real needs of the nation, and weighing them against its inability to continue operating on the current basis, liberal politicians see an opportunity to bolster their dominance in Washington by promising even larger handouts to favored constituencies.
Such reprehensible behavior by Democrats reveals a complete abandonment of their constitutional responsibilities, and should result in thorough censure from the right. To the ongoing shock and dismay of the conservative grassroots, nobody in the Republican "leadership" appears willing to carry that torch. Hence, liberals continue their devastation of the nation's finances with total impunity for their corrupt actions. In fact they publicly laud themselves as the saviors of Middle America while they systematically plunder it.
Such blatant and shameless liberal propagandizing, makes it difficult to comprehend the actuality of the "fiscal cliff" situation. Yet for that very reason, the present degree of distortion and misrepresentation needs to be addressed by recalling the original premise of this whole debate, and holding to account everyone on both sides of the aisle who have allowed it to be so flagrantly distorted.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, as Americans grew increasingly concerned with the profligate squandering of the nation's resources by the Obama Administration, the people demanded that his reins be tightened before he was able to completely bankrupt the country. In 2011, with the nation approaching its $14.3 trillion debt limit, mechanisms were ostensibly put in place to ensure that the criminally irresponsible spending spree would be brought into line. The imaginary "fix" to which Republicans agreed mandated federal spending cuts in exchange for Republican relaxation of the debt limit. This was the essence of naive GOP expectations for good faith Democrat reciprocation when Republicans caved on that occasion.
Now, with the arrival of that deadline, congressional Republicans are amazed to find themselves once again on the defensive, facing an intransigent Obama White House and blind partisanship in the Democrat controlled Senate. Instead of sincerely addressing the raging excesses of government spending, Obama continually upped the ante, imposing tax hikes that will punish the so-called "rich" (his most disfavored constituency) while bolstering his redistributionist schemes for those who worship at the altar of "the state."
In his latest exhibition of brazen fraud, Obama advances a statist ploy as his "fix," while challenging his critics to "do the math." However, even a cursory examination of the numbers inarguably proves that he and his cabal of political supporters are in no way interested in factual accounting. The advancement of their anti-capitalist agenda is simply too important to be bothered with the inconveniences of reality.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bogusly named "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012" contains $600 billion in tax increases, while conceding a mere $15 billion in "cuts." Even if these figures were genuine, they would represent a fiscal atrocity. Yet even the occasional mention of reducing expenditures is once again only a cruel mirage. Liberals regularly "cut" their financial outlays by initially proposing deliberately inflated numbers, and then claiming to do some token "trimming" of those amounts.
With deficits projected to exceed four trillion dollars in the next ten years (a number that will be vastly exceeded), absolutely no effort to reduce the depredation of America's pocketbooks will be attempted. In short, from both sides of the aisle, Washington disclosed an intention to continue its rapacious spending, with no end in sight.
Not surprisingly, House and Senate Democrats jubilantly supported Obama's sinister plan, exhibiting callous indifference to the collateral damage it inflicts on our once-great nation. Just as abhorrently however, the Republican acquiescence and compliance that ultimately made it a reality constitutes a wholesale betrayal of the American people. The seditious strategy of the Obama Administration and its leftist collaborators is based on the perpetual expansion of the government and a relentless encroachment on the private citizenry. Yet Republicans abetted this effort. No longer is either side of the political aisle concerned with steering the nation away from the true fiscal pitfall that it faces on account of its inexorable lurch into socialism.
Many among the conservative punditry claim that Obama will enjoy a significant political windfall from this debacle since the Republicans, by abandoning their core principle of opposing tax increases, are once again alienating their conservative base. However, to any who have observed flailing attempts by the philosophically bankrupt GOP Establishment to posture and pander its way into a position of leadership, this latest treachery comes as no surprise. With the exception of a few conservative stalwarts in its midst (many of whom Speaker Boehner vindictively purged from leading positions) the core of the Republican Party inside Washington is made up of morally and ethically rudderless political players.
Real conservatism has too often been squandered, even after such significant grassroots victories as the 2010 mid-term elections, because its key players were persuaded to align themselves with those they believed kindred in the GOP. In the wake of the "fiscal cliff" fiasco, and the needless and cowardly Republican acquiescence to Barack Obama, it has become painfully clear that conservatism must be unabashedly established and advanced as its own force for societal change if it is ever again to be taken seriously in the political world.
The primary stronghold of liberalism lies within the modern Republican Party. Until it is dismantled, attempting to turn the tide on the leftist onslaught will prove an exercise in futility.
© Chris Adamo
January 3, 2013
Apparently Republican career politicians inside the Beltway have a collective death wish. Faced with what they believed to be political impasse, they opted to completely abandon their conservative base and give their full support to the abhorrent and fiscally reckless policies of Barack Obama and the Democrats. Of course Republicans would argue that since Obama won reelection in November, they must acquiesce to his uncontested leadership. Sadly, they give no thought to the possibility that perhaps it is their constant inexcusable capitulation to the liberal establishment which has, more than any other factor, empowered the left as the dominant political force in Washington.
The grim reality of the nation's current financial debacle is that each and every year the government spends in excess of a trillion dollars more than it can afford. And while deficits have been a fact of life since the nation's founding, the current levels are unsustainable, and portend an eventual economic implosion if the situation is not shortly corrected. But rather than addressing the real needs of the nation, and weighing them against its inability to continue operating on the current basis, liberal politicians see an opportunity to bolster their dominance in Washington by promising even larger handouts to favored constituencies.
Such reprehensible behavior by Democrats reveals a complete abandonment of their constitutional responsibilities, and should result in thorough censure from the right. To the ongoing shock and dismay of the conservative grassroots, nobody in the Republican "leadership" appears willing to carry that torch. Hence, liberals continue their devastation of the nation's finances with total impunity for their corrupt actions. In fact they publicly laud themselves as the saviors of Middle America while they systematically plunder it.
Such blatant and shameless liberal propagandizing, makes it difficult to comprehend the actuality of the "fiscal cliff" situation. Yet for that very reason, the present degree of distortion and misrepresentation needs to be addressed by recalling the original premise of this whole debate, and holding to account everyone on both sides of the aisle who have allowed it to be so flagrantly distorted.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, as Americans grew increasingly concerned with the profligate squandering of the nation's resources by the Obama Administration, the people demanded that his reins be tightened before he was able to completely bankrupt the country. In 2011, with the nation approaching its $14.3 trillion debt limit, mechanisms were ostensibly put in place to ensure that the criminally irresponsible spending spree would be brought into line. The imaginary "fix" to which Republicans agreed mandated federal spending cuts in exchange for Republican relaxation of the debt limit. This was the essence of naive GOP expectations for good faith Democrat reciprocation when Republicans caved on that occasion.
Now, with the arrival of that deadline, congressional Republicans are amazed to find themselves once again on the defensive, facing an intransigent Obama White House and blind partisanship in the Democrat controlled Senate. Instead of sincerely addressing the raging excesses of government spending, Obama continually upped the ante, imposing tax hikes that will punish the so-called "rich" (his most disfavored constituency) while bolstering his redistributionist schemes for those who worship at the altar of "the state."
In his latest exhibition of brazen fraud, Obama advances a statist ploy as his "fix," while challenging his critics to "do the math." However, even a cursory examination of the numbers inarguably proves that he and his cabal of political supporters are in no way interested in factual accounting. The advancement of their anti-capitalist agenda is simply too important to be bothered with the inconveniences of reality.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bogusly named "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012" contains $600 billion in tax increases, while conceding a mere $15 billion in "cuts." Even if these figures were genuine, they would represent a fiscal atrocity. Yet even the occasional mention of reducing expenditures is once again only a cruel mirage. Liberals regularly "cut" their financial outlays by initially proposing deliberately inflated numbers, and then claiming to do some token "trimming" of those amounts.
With deficits projected to exceed four trillion dollars in the next ten years (a number that will be vastly exceeded), absolutely no effort to reduce the depredation of America's pocketbooks will be attempted. In short, from both sides of the aisle, Washington disclosed an intention to continue its rapacious spending, with no end in sight.
Not surprisingly, House and Senate Democrats jubilantly supported Obama's sinister plan, exhibiting callous indifference to the collateral damage it inflicts on our once-great nation. Just as abhorrently however, the Republican acquiescence and compliance that ultimately made it a reality constitutes a wholesale betrayal of the American people. The seditious strategy of the Obama Administration and its leftist collaborators is based on the perpetual expansion of the government and a relentless encroachment on the private citizenry. Yet Republicans abetted this effort. No longer is either side of the political aisle concerned with steering the nation away from the true fiscal pitfall that it faces on account of its inexorable lurch into socialism.
Many among the conservative punditry claim that Obama will enjoy a significant political windfall from this debacle since the Republicans, by abandoning their core principle of opposing tax increases, are once again alienating their conservative base. However, to any who have observed flailing attempts by the philosophically bankrupt GOP Establishment to posture and pander its way into a position of leadership, this latest treachery comes as no surprise. With the exception of a few conservative stalwarts in its midst (many of whom Speaker Boehner vindictively purged from leading positions) the core of the Republican Party inside Washington is made up of morally and ethically rudderless political players.
Real conservatism has too often been squandered, even after such significant grassroots victories as the 2010 mid-term elections, because its key players were persuaded to align themselves with those they believed kindred in the GOP. In the wake of the "fiscal cliff" fiasco, and the needless and cowardly Republican acquiescence to Barack Obama, it has become painfully clear that conservatism must be unabashedly established and advanced as its own force for societal change if it is ever again to be taken seriously in the political world.
The primary stronghold of liberalism lies within the modern Republican Party. Until it is dismantled, attempting to turn the tide on the leftist onslaught will prove an exercise in futility.
© Chris Adamo
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
