Democrats And Republicans Co-Conspirators Responsible For Our Current Budgetary Mess
Democrats And Republicans Co-Conspirators Responsible For Our Current Budgetary Mess
Dear Friends of the Constitutional Republic,
Both of the two major parties are responsible and guilty for the economic, budgetary mess we are in, and this is documented in detail in a new book by Peter G. Peterson titled "Running On Empty: How The Democratic And Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future And What Americans Can Do About It" (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux).
Mr. Peterson has been the chairman of several corporations and he was President Nixon's Secretary of Commerce.
In a review of this book in the "New York Times," Christopher Caldwell, a senior editor at "The Weekly Standard" magazine, notes that the annual current account deficit --- what America has to borrow to finance its excess of imports over exports --- is a dangerously high $540 billion. Our net financial liabilities to foreigners have risen to $2.6 trillion, from zero in 1980.
For decades, Peterson is quoted as saying, Democrats "labored patiently to purge America of its traditional aversion to deficits," bribing voters with jobs and social services programs that the country could not afford. Dependent on deficit spending, both parties have blown through every institutional constraint erected against reckless tax cuts and benefit expansions.
Caldwell says that while Peterson blames both parties for conniving against fiscal common sense, he puts the present administration in a class of its own (emphasis mine). Paraphrasing what Peterson says in his book, Caldwell adds:
"George W. Bush has discarded traditional Republican qualms against big government, replacing the old Democratic model of tax-and-spend with his own model of borrow-and-spend."
Peterson is quoted directly as saying:
This administration and the republican congress have presided over the biggest, most reckless deterioration of America's finances in history (emphasis mine).
In other words, forget the debate about whether Mr. Bush and his Administration have been conservative. In terms of their fiscal irresponsibility, and what the GOP used to stand for, they are not even Republicans!
Caldwell concludes his review by citing a quote used by Peterson, from Thomas Jefferson: "To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude."
So, what can Americans do about all this?
Well, one thing is obvious: Stop voting for Democrats or Republicans. Do not vote for Bush/Cheney or Kerry/Edwards. They will only make our budget mess a bigger mess.
Vote for me for President and Dr. Chuck Baldwin for Vice President, and for other Constitution Party candidates. We are the only Party that stands for government that is truly Godly, Constitutional, and fiscally responsible.
Please read Mr. Peroutka's follow up article here.