Cutting Through the Political Manure

Cutting Through the Political Manure
by Burt Prelutsky
Monday, October 24, 2011

When Obama insists that tax hikes will be offset by future spending cuts, run -- don’t walk! -- and hang on to your wallets. When it comes to keeping their promises, politicians are notoriously untrustworthy.

Back in the 70s, Nixon and Kissinger agreed to withdraw from Vietnam on the condition that Congress would continue supplying our South Vietnam allies with money and armaments. Congress didn’t, and as a result, the Communists massacred millions of Southeast Asians.

In 1982, Reagan signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA), which congressional Democrats promised would lead to three dollars in spending cuts for every dollar in tax increases. Take a guess which one didn’t happen. The tax increases, by the way, were to be obtained by closing tax loopholes. (Sound vaguely familiar?)

Reagan lived to regret that deal, but it didn’t prevent the Gipper from being snookered yet again in 1986, when he signed a general amnesty for illegal aliens because the Democrats vowed to close the borders. We can all see, 15 million illegal aliens later, how well that worked out.

Reagan’s successor, George H.W. Bush, clearly wasn’t paying close attention because he pledged not to raise taxes -- “Read my lips”-- because the Democrats promised budget cuts.

I swear, the only example I can think of where one party has been sucker-punched more often than Republican presidents is America’s favorite nebbish, Charlie Brown, who kept falling for Lucy’s promise not to pull the football away when he was about to kick it.

If there are bigger dummies than those Republicans who trust liberals to behave honorably, it must be those besotted voters who proudly identify themselves as Independents.

I know they puff themselves up because, unlike those of us who realize that there are existential wars being waged between Israel and the Palestinians, between western civilization and Islam, and between conservatives and leftists, they like to regard themselves as clear-thinking individuals who are above what they ignorantly dismiss as partisan frays.

They bray that they want to see Republicans and Democrats act in concert, joining together to do what’s best for America. What they are too dumb to recognize is that there is no conceivable common ground when one side, in its perpetual trolling for support from unions and minority groups, regards tax dollars as the easiest and cheapest way to buy votes. One side believes in smaller government, the abiding wisdom of the Constitution and American sovereignty; the other side believes that the federal government should be even larger and more powerful; that the Constitution isn’t worth the parchment it’s written on; and that American sovereignty is a foolish conceit, and that American law and influence should be subordinate to the United Nations, the World Court, the ACLU, Sharia and Obama’s whims.

Having recently seen a production of 1776, I was reminded that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson couldn’t wait to get away from the Continental Congress. Part of the reason was the weather in a pre-air conditioned Philadelphia and part of the reason was that they missed their wives. For his part, George Washington turned down the crown and only agreed to be President because he put love of country ahead of his personal preferences.

Compare that to our current politicians, who must be dragged kicking and screaming from office. It suggests to me that life in our nation’s capital is far too comfy these days. Therefore, I move that we cut off air conditioning in the summer and the heat in winter. Only when Barney Frank starts sweating like a pig and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz starts whining about the cold will we see how dedicated they, along with Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, are to public service.
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To read another article by Burt Prelutsky, click here.