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Nov. 6, 2004 Now that they have gone down, once again, in ignominious defeat, the left is calling for "bipartisanship." What do they MEAN by that? If past history is any indication, it means, "Let us have OUR way." After the 2000 election, President Bush did what he said he'd do--he reached out to the left in a spirit of true bipartisanship, going so far as to extend that hand to none other than Teddy Kennedy, the penultimate liberal in the Senate (next to John Kerry, who then, as today, was more or less a non-entity.) He put out his hand and had it badly bitten as that same Teddy Kennedy saw fit to accuse the President almost daily of being a liar and an "imperialist" bent on enriching the coffers of "his oil and gas buddies." If THAT'S an example of the left's "bipartisanship," thanks, but no thanks! For at least the last 34 years, the left in our government has gulled Republicans into believing that they were really serious about "working together" for the betterment of America. President Reagan cut a deal with a Democrat- controlled Congress after massive tax cuts, to modestly raise SOME taxes in exchange for Congress' promise to cut spending--especially in "entitlement" programs. The original tax cuts caused a MASSIVE increase in money into the Federal coffers as people quit sheltering their money from taxation in order to put it to work for them. The left's response was to spend about $1.55 for every increased $1.00 in Federal income--doing PRECISELY what they'd pledged NOT to do...and THEN blaming the resulting deficits on President Reagan himself. If I have any criticism of President Reagan at all, it is in his reluctance to veto these massive spending bills when presented to him on the eve of the national deadline for passage. He SHOULD have simply allowed the federal government to shut down and gone to the American people and explained in his inimitable way just what was going on and why. Public opinion would have FORCED a Democrat-dominated House to do what it had promised and cut out funding for the National Endowments of the Arts and of the Humanities, (which the federal government has no business financing to begin with), do away with the "National Tea Tasting Board," stop financing esoteric "research" into the life-cycles of the webbed footed ground beetle or the studying amount of methane exuded by termite mounds. We'd have realized a "savings" of almost a billion dollars just by doing THAT alone! Instead, obviously concerned that SS recipients' checks would be delayed and tens of thousands of federal employees would go home without pay, Reagan reluctantly signed such bills and campaigned for a line-item veto instead. The resulting deficits were laid at HIS door by the Democrats instead of on the floor of the House where they really belonged--mostly by a press corps who were even more leftist than Congress itself was. President Bush should avoid such displays of "bipartisanship" like the very plague itself. He now has a clear mandate to do what American REALLY wants done. Reduce the size of government, lower our taxes across the board, fight the war on terrorists and terrorism on whatever fronts that present themselves, and do everything in his power to bring us back to a truly Constitutionally-based government. He can start out immediately by appointing good, conservative judges to the Supreme Court as the three likely current Justices retire. If the Democrats try any of their obstructionist shenanigans THIS time, they'll be turned out of office, too, just like what happened to Tom Daschle. He lost his seat as much for that obstructionism as for any other reason, but I wouldn't count on his successor being any more accomodating to the President. It seems as if the left simply NEVER learns its lessons unless we--as with the recalcitrant mule--smack it between the eyes with a 2 x 4 to first get its attention. ------------ About the author: David A. Jared is a news junkie, semi-retired and an avid golfer who's been writing his first book, "4000 years of chopsticks" for the last 20 years. Email: Pappadave@sbcglobal.net ------------- All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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