Have You Heard We The People?

Disagreements are a part of everyday living for all of us. We all learned on the playground, back when kindergarten was about learning to get along, that expecting to get everything you want, when you want it was no way to get along. In his exceptional book, “Conservatives Without Conscience,” John Dean describes an authoritarian mind set that eschews compromise as capitulation. Unfortunately, for the American people, many in congress seem to have acquired this mind set.

Our children and future generations could have benefitted enormously from the debt deal that President Obama offered the Republicans. Can you imagine a $4 Trillion spending cut? However, because they would rather rule than govern, Republicans turned up their noses because they would have had to accept an absolutely inevitable tax increase. In order to cover the wars and subsidies that Republicans favor, there will have to be an increase in revenue sooner or later. Why not have it accompanied by a massive spending cut?

Republicans do not seem to get that people are tired of the silly rancor, and the dangerous game of brinkmanship they are inflicting on the country. We do not wish to be held hostage to a failed strategy that they cannot find their way out of. We advocate eliminating the debt ceiling, and then as much as possible the debt. Do it NOW. Compromise is high art in the world of governance, it is only in the tiny world of sterile ideology where trying to rule benefits anyone. The debt ceiling is not the only clock running, and time is running out on your failed strategy. If you cannot be trusted with doing what is best for the country, you will pay dearly for your pathetic attempts to rule.

Like a traitorous magician, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has given away the secret to a tightly held sleight of legislative magic craft. Yesterday, he proposed giving away the power of Congress to the President in order to raise the debt ceiling. His action proves that the debt ceiling is a parlor trick conjured up to pretend like congress was actually concerned about doing their job. THEY ARE NOT! The Voice of the Center contends that the so called debt ceiling is something congress made up to pretend that they were capable of financial responsibility for the people of the United States. However, over seventy times since JFK was president, congress has voted routinely to raise the debt limit—effectively stating that it is just a bit of make believe in order to fool the gullible American people.

Congress is required to deal with the problems of debt and spending during budget deliberations—that is their constitutionally mandated role. During the budget process, they pay no attention to the debt limit and the effect the budget will have on the national debt because they know that they can score political points when the debt limit comes up for renewal. This is a game that has gone on for far too long, and as the economy teeters on the brink of a double dip recession, the uncertainty in the minds of consumers, markets, and companies is simply intolerable.

Mitch McConnell spilled the beans yesterday—it is all just a game, at least in the mind of congress. What do they care if millions of people who depend on timely payments from the government are delayed or postponed? The American people deserve more than just a sham crisis from their elected representatives. Rather than abrogate their responsibilities any further, they should just eliminate the debt ceiling, rather than surrendering any more of their power to the executive branch.

We as a country are in treacherous waters at this juncture. When Congress passed the budget, they authorized the country to go beyond the debt limit, plain and simple. They cannot un-choose the budget they passed, they must live with it, just as the rest of us must. The Voice of the Center advocates proper fiscal responsibility within the parameters set by the Constitution. If not increasing the debt is such an important priority, why was the balanced budget rejected? In this case, budget reconciliation means reconciling rhetoric with reality. Thank you Senator McConnell for revealing the truth to America!

The debt limit debate is a deflection from the real issue of presidential politics. The Republicans want to deflect from the fiscal mismanagement they imposed upon the country with the slavish following of the policies of George W. Bush, without regard to the implications for the national debt. They want to paint Barak Obama as just another tax and spend Democrat, when the simple truth is that the past few Democratic presidents have been far more fiscally prudent that Republicans.

The lowest ratio of debt to GDP was during the Carter Administration, followed by Clinton. The same ratio went wild under Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. This is another example of the brilliant use of mythology by the Republicans to brand their opposition with actual GOP administration characteristics. Democrats never point out the contradictions.

At the Voice of the Center, we feel that fiscal policy should reflect what is best for the country, not what is best for either political party in a presidential election many months away. We urge our representatives to abandon the rhetoric of ideology and “promote the general welfare” as expressed in the preamble to the Constitution. Taking away benefits from seniors is going to be a very bad move for everybody, particularly as more baby boomers become seniors in the next year and a half.

We propose elimination of the debt ceiling, since elimination is one of the cheapest ways to improve a system. The posturing is hypocritical and divisive. The debate is deceptive and demeaning to the American people. Just eliminate the debt ceiling, because it has always been symbolic. Fight over the budget—that is the job of congress. Enlarging this debate to try to correct or redress problems is inappropriate in this context. Take care of business and quit holding the American people hostage.

American Independence Day marks the birthday of a new voice in American politics and political opinion, The Voice of the Center. Up to now, there has been no center to the center, just a lot of shifting of positions based upon the extremism of the right and/or left at any given time. The Voice of the Center is dedicated to actually establishing well thought out positions that will bother liberals and conservatives alike. The center is not a political afterthought that can be counted on to round out the majority of either political party. The center demands and expects cooperation, compromise, and mutual regard for minorities and majorities, both before and after elections. Compromise is the essence of governance and the center expects the needs of the American people to trump the needs of either political party.

The center has grown weary of the endless abstractions that occupy the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of ideologues. As a country, we are currently involved in a manufactured crisis over the debt ceiling. Why are the American people being held hostage by the momentary philosophical angst of the the Republican Party over the national debt, when they did so much to incur the debt in the first place? Spending trillions of dollars on wars that even the defense department recognizes only marginally affects the “common defense” is hardly justification for dismantling social programs that millions of seniors depend upon.

The four areas upon which the center focuses are in the Preamble to the Constitution: Justice, Defense, Welfare, Tranquility. The center is unconcerned with the moral perfection of our society. The war on drugs and other related matters, should be analyzed on the basis of cost and benefit, not the welfare of all the people whose livelihoods depend on maintaining the status quo. The center demands common sense solutions to impossibly complex problems, not the endless posturing for political points. The center says to both liberals and conservatives, GROW UP.

So, on this Independence Day, we are declaring independence from mediocrity! We are declaring independence from dependence upon money, favor, and political gamesmanship. We are declaring independence from tiresome talking points, and demand real thinking, real dialogue, real listening, and real compassion for all Americans. The REAL center is waking up and taking over. Get ready for the revolution!

Have You Heard We The People?

Govern, Don’t Try To Rule

The Magic of Fear

Debt Limit: Wrong Term-Wrong Time-Wrong Track

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