Republicans != Conservatives

When I was growing up and studying political science I always equated Republicans to being conservatives. Although I generally fall into the liberal spectrum of politics I find that conservatism is a great ideology in many respects. I have always believed in fiscal responsibility, especially when it comes to the government. Unfortunately nowadays if you try to attach Republicans to conservatism you lose that responsibility completely. You can blame Democrats all you want of past and present, but with Republicans controlling both the legislative and executive branches of government America has tumbled towards financial ruin.

Congress would like you to believe that they are trimming the budget in this upcoming fiscal year, but sadly it's really all for show. America spends $2.5 trillion a year and Congress has promised to cut spending by $35-50 billion over the next five years. And what's worse is that the gross nation debit is estimated to be more than $8 trillion. Just in fiscal 2005 there was a $319 billion budget deficit.

Now it is understandable with events over the past several years, along with recent events that there would be some debt and deficits going on. The problem is that there has been no conservation or responsibility when it comes to dealing with the nations finances over the last few years. My concept when it comes to money is that if you need to pay for something find a way to do it. What the government is doing currently is equivalent to charging your monthly bills to a credit card, and then not paying the credit card bill in hopes that the bank will just forget about those charges and let you live your merry little life. Unfortunately this is the real world and those tactics do not work in a capitalist society.

So how are we going to pay for our money woes? Simple answer is raise taxes, cut spending. I have never been for raising taxes unless they are necessary. The idea is fiscal responsibility. Okay so we need to pay for a war. Well if the war is so important then we need to find a way to pay for it. If the war on terror was detrimental to society then I think people would be willing to pay taxes to defeat the great evil. Unfortunately the majority of Americans don't believe in the war and they definitely don't want to spend their hard earned cash on it. This leaves quite a pickle for the government to deal with. So what are we supposed to do? Congress thinks making tax cuts permanent will some how help us deal with these problems.

Eventually though all of these financial problems will come back and bite us in the ass. Depending how far the problem goes there could be far reaching economical lapses. Another recession or depression is becoming less and less unlikely for our children and/or grandchildren. It's time for America to bite the bullet and stop sidestepping this issue. America needs a solution and I don't see much leadership from the top on this issue.