The Republican Cure for the National Debt: Destroy Entitlement Programs

The Republicans are blaming Obama for the National Debt crisis. They are targeting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. They claim entitlement programs are too expensive. They claim Social Security is going bankrupt.

The Republicans claim we need to adopt Paul Ryan's budget plan. They claim we must get our fiscal house in order.

But what about all the opportunities the Republicans had to lower our dependence on other nations for funding our economy? They seem to think and have always thought that the burden of the debt should be placed on the poor and the elderly.

Remember their words? "Read my lips. No new taxes." It was perfectly okay to borrow money from a Communist nation to pay for our wars. It was perfectly okay to place the burden of the debt on the poor and the elderly.

Does anyone ever remember a time when the Republicans advocated a tax increase? Even during a robust economy, the Republicans refused to raise taxes to pay for our wars. Republicans refused to admit that tax cuts only pay for themselves during a robust economy. They refuse to admit that during a recession tax cuts add to the national debt.

In the Republican Party there is only one way to pay up the debt. A painless way for the Republicans. Cut and destroy all Federal programs that help the poor and the needy while giving freebies to big corporations.

Republicans hide behind our flag and the word patriotism while refusing to raise revenues to pay for our wars. Why should they raise revenues to pay for our wars when they can pay for it via cuts to entitlement programs? According to them, it is patriotic to cast the burden on the national debt on the poor and the needy.

Republicans encouraged firms to move overseas; even provided tax incentives for firms to move overseas; wanted our economy to be a service economy. Instead of renegotiating the trade agreements to compensate for wage differences and unfair trade practices, the Republicans claimed the outflow of jobs would create more jobs in the US. Did it? The Republicans claimed their tax cuts would create more jobs in the US. Where are those jobs? Where are all the jobs the Bush tax cuts were suppose to create? If Obama's stimulus package was a failure then the Bush tax cuts were also a failure. Hence, if Obama's stimulus package deepened the debt, then so did the Bush tax cuts.

Well folks. Don't assume that you will never be dependent on Medicare or Social Security. One thing one learns as one grows older is that there are no guarantees. Maybe you will have a big enough retirement to finance your health insurance and other necessities in life to twenty years, perhaps even twenty five years. But with one wrong turn of the stock market, your funds can be greatly reduced. With a single crisis like your home being destroyed by what insurance companies call an act of God, your financial situation can change drastically. One terminal illness in your family that insurance will not cover for technical reasons can eat up all of your hard earned savings and leave you dependent on the safety net. If the Republicans have their way, you may end up in deep financial trouble with no safety net.

Let's not give the Republicans the painless way out of their responsibilities regarding the national debt. Let's not continue giving corporations earning record breaking profits tax subsidies. We all have to share the burden of the national debt.

Let's protect the entitlement programs that may become our sole life line in our old age. I hope all the poor and needy people who are on entitlement programs and/or social security vote in the 2012 elections. I hope all Tea Party members lose their Congressional seats in 2012. I hope Obama wins the 2012 Presidential election.

I applaud Obama for demanding revenue increases. I applaud Obama for defending the poor and the needy.