Printed online in the Barnesville Dispatch and in print in The Herald Gazette on August 9, 2011.

Over the last month, along with many frustrated Americans, we watched in horror as our country was brought to the brink of economic disaster. Never before in the history of theUnited Stateshas such a manufactured crisis related to the raising of the debt ceiling occurred. This would not have happened now, except for the fact that Congress was held hostage by an ultra right wing faction of the Republican party who demanded that the budget fight be attached to the raising of the debt ceiling, and yet when that demand was met, they refused to compromise on an equitable solution to bringing the deficit under control. They were willing to let our country fall into default unless everything was done exactly their way, in spite of the fact that the majority of Americans want a balanced approach to lowering the deficit that includes both cuts in spending and increased revenue. Lest we forget, the debt ceiling  has been raised with no other provisions 107 times since 1940; 78 times under Republican administrations and 29 times under Democratic administrations. Ronald Reagan raised the limit 18 times. Responsible people understand that the raising of the debt ceiling does not give carte blanche to increased spending. It only gives the President the authority to continue to cover what has already been authorized.

  It is important to remember that the dire financial situation the country is in now was not brought on by the current administration. President George W. Bush took office in 2001 after being handed a balanced budget and a surplus by President Clinton. There was record low unemployment. President Bush left office in 2009 with the country in the midst of a crippling recession combined with staggering unemployment rates, while still involved in 2 unfunded wars. He then handed President Obama the highest deficit on record.

 Contrary to what those on the right wing side of politics believe, Democrats are fiscally responsible and want to get spending under control. We just differ with the Republicans and their Tea Party faction on how this should be accomplished. Do we have waste in this country that needs to be cut out? Yes! But we do not believe that the budget should be balanced on the backs of the middle class, our senior citizens or the most vulnerable members of our society by gutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and education.

    Everyone who runs a household knows that you must curtail your discretionary spending during lean times. However, when you have cut your budget to the bone, still have loans to pay, and cannot meet basic needs, then a source for more income needs to be found. Government must be run the same way. Even Ronald Reagan understood this when faced with the need for more revenue  He was not vilified by the Republican Party when he raised taxes 11 times. It seems today, that their main goal is to make sure that President Obama fails even if it means that our nation is taken down with him.

 We must have shared sacrifice. The middle class and poor have been shouldering this sacrifice alone for far too long. No one likes to pay taxes but our tax rates are at a record low. It is time to close the loop holes that allow some large corporations to pay no taxes. We need to end the subsidies to large agribusiness, but continue to support our family farms. The ultra wealthy should not be allowed to pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. It is time to end the subsidies to the oil companies. We need to do these things because there is so much that we must do to maintain our greatness. We need a real jobs program to get our people back to work. We cannot allow our infrastructure to continue to deteriorate. We cannot allow the FAA to continue to be unfunded nor allow the Republicans to gut the clean air and water acts. We must educate our children. And yes, we do need to look at Medicare and Medicaid to make sure that they are run efficiently. But, Social Security should not even be on the table as it did not contribute to the deficit. The Republicans have been trying to overturn Social Security since its inception and are using the current financial crisis to continue this mission.

It is true that we are a seriously divided nation. But we must compromise so the needs of our people are met and we remain strong. One small right wing portion of a political party should not be allowed to hold the rest hostage while demanding agreement to all of their terms, destroying our country in the process. We must not sit idly by and let this happen again.

Sincerely,

The Members of The Lamar County Democratic Party