The party of Anarchy.

I have been sitting by watching the political discourse in the country for the last few months over the debt ceiling. Today the Republican party decided they would rather see a depression in this country with more lost jobs, a lower standard of living, and a US, if not global economic melt down.

When the president is willing to cut 3 dollars for every dollar of new revenue (see here), and Republicans will not even accept that as a plan to live with, there is something wrong. The Republicans (and 4 democrats) signed the pledge to not raise taxes and not remove loopholes without also lowering the tax rate. Pledges are all fine and good. But is a pledge more important than the oath taken when entering office? Here is that oath....

“I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

The Constitution sets out rules for taxation of the citizens in the 16th amendment. To make our obligations and pay our debt the government must raise revenue. How is walking away from a table for meeting our government obligations not turning your back on the American public and the Constitution? By adhering to a pledge, they are putting that ahead of their sworn oath to their constituents. How does that not invalidate them for office when taking the oath "freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion?"

As a fiscal conservative, I want less spending, I want less publicly held debt. Which means a balanced budget and excess revenue to pay down that debt. Which means cuts to everything, including entitlements and defense spending. When we spend 3.45 Billion in 2010 and take in only 2.12 Billion, there is a huge discrepancy. There are those that call for killing all 'foreign aid' and all regulation...that's all fine and good, however, since that's all discretionary spending, we could remove all discretionary spending from the budget (meaning things like the EPA, national parks, SEC, FBI, CIA, UDSA, DOE, State Department, etc) you would still have a hole of 670 BILLION dollars.

Where do you think that money will come from? New jobs? Who is going to create them? Taxes on corporations and the well to do in this country are the lowest they have been in the last 40 years....and we have higher unemployment now than at the beginning of the last presidency when tax rates were higher.

The Republican party has shown their hand. They are no longer interested in serious governing. They are no longer interested in the future of their constituents' financial security and the financial security of the entire nation.