Editorial:
Finally… The debt ceiling was raised and the budget was passed this week. As congress waited until the eleventh hour to get the job done, our national media did its best to make the average American care about the outcome. Americans knew that the politicians would ultimately raise the debt limit to ensure we could pay our bills. The only question was what the final deal would look like. As most Americans suspected, the budget that ultimately passed was not a good deal for the middle class, the working man, the poor, or the Hispanic community.
Opinions have been expressed and editorials written ad nauseum about this summer’s debt ceilling negotiations. Progressives and Democrats, the traditional voices for the poor and middle class, have labeled the budget deal as one-sided and contrary to their ideals. But looking back at how we got here, congressional representatives from both parties have voted for many of the tax loopholes, pork barrel projects, and outrageous expenditures overseas and at home which contributed heavily to our colossal national deficit.
In the final analysis of the actual “negotiated” budget, average Americans, journalists, and world spectators scoff at the Democratic Party’s inability to tax hedge fund millionaires and corporate jet owners. The White House agreed to $900billion in budget cuts over 10 years, with no increase in revenue.
This budget negotiation is seen as a victory for the Tea Party and the Republican Party.
What is hard to comprehend is that the Democratic majority party in the Senate was unified and seemingly in control of the process, yet a minority group of Republicans didn’t budge an inch from their position. In the end, the Democrats perceptively caved and relinquished their demands, as did some of the core freshman Republicans tied to the Tea Party, who wanted more real cuts.
This is the face of the new style of compromise and one we will see again and again in the future with the success of the Tea Party. That is unless the voters pay attention, educate themselves, and vote in their best interests. It will be a sad day, come the next election season, if Americans continue to support and put into office extremists who were willing to plunge the country into bankruptcy to fulfill their campaign promises.
Politics have sunk to an all-time low when decisions made are no longer in the best interests of the country but in the best interests of a political party and the next election.
