Letters from Linden
by JACK LINDEN
We have seen the epitome of the “silly season” in Washington D.C. for the past six weeks at least and maybe the entire period since the November election. We have seen the entire political structure of this country fall into a name-calling, obstructionist group of people. They have ceased to be politicians but have become more like a bunch of seventh grade boys calling each other names. It almost sounded like the playground where the boys were yelling “my old man can beat your old man.”
Granted, a bill was passed that extends the line of credit on which the United States government can borrow to pay its debts. What was so strikingly dumb was the number of members of the House of Representatives who did not understand that the debt ceiling had nothing to do with a budget, the Health Reform Act, or what Congress could legislate in the future. It was about a debt that the previous Congresses had incurred and needed to be paid. For those who seemed to think that it was about future spending, I hate to think about how they pay their own bills.
No matter what the Congress passed and the president signed, the struggle is not over. Just because a “super committee” has been created, there is no reason to believe that anything will get done before the election of 2012. The creation of the committee is being left up to the leaders of the parties and by that very implication, nothing will get done. The minority leader in the Senate has already stated that he will not name anyone to the committee who would vote for a tax increase or revenue enhancement stipulation.
That fact tells us immediately that the only alternative is for the “trigger” mechanism, which states that an across the board cut will go into effect. The Republicans will not go for that possibility either since it will be a cut in defense spending. The only possibility that it might is that Republican members of Congress have started using the term “security” instead of “defense” when talking about cutting the budget. It does not take much to know that they are trying to change the thinking of those who thought the debt ceiling had something to do with the budget.
The Democrats have their own pet programs and are threatening to make sure that they remain the same. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are the programs for the people and Democrats are just as dead-set against reducing them as the Republicans are about defense spending and raising taxes. My guess is that if history is any teacher, the Democrats will waver before the Republicans when it comes to cuts.
Now that all of this has been said, there are only a few things we know for sure. The first is that the debt limit has been raised through 2012. We are not sure of what cuts will be made but the debt incurred by the previous Congresses will be paid. The second thing we know for sure is that those we call leaders are no more prone to govern than they were before. Lastly, the second phase of the cost cutting has begun and nothing will get done in Congress.
Nowhere have we seen any proposals to get the job market to move. There are no proposals to fix America’s infrastructure. Our highways are a mess and the repair of roads and bridges could be a boost to the economy. Republicans will argue that the government does not create jobs even while their candidates and non-candidates are campaigning that they know how.
We will probably go into a deeper recession than we have been because those in Washington are not governing, they are politicking. We deserve what we have. We have demanded that our representatives represent only those who elected them, not the country. “Constituents” has come to mean those people who voted for me and will again if I do what they say. Unfortunately, the constituency has become too narrow in its demands. “What is in it for me?” is the demand. Look for a repeat of the “silly season” and America being less governed.
