When Bush, or "Shrubs" as I like to call him, began his campaign he made several political promises, or lies as I like to call them, most notably a tax-cut and to rebuild our national defense. Big surprise from a republican.
After Gore received more votes in the presidential race, "Shrubs" became president--go figure.
The travesty of 9/11 provided a political avenue for "Shrubs" to institute his political promises--a tax-cut to medicate our ailing state and federal economies and billions of dollars into our defense program to make sure another 9/11 doesn't happen.
This political rhetoric sounds all warm and fuzzy, but when you decrease revenue and increase spending you create what is known as a deficit. When Reagan did this throughout the '80s he managed to rack up a record $1.8 trillion deficit which doubled the national debt. "Shrubs" is heading us in the same direction.
Many economists would agree that a tax-cut, when coupled with an increase in spending, is an ineffective way to stimulate the economy. "Shrubs'" massive tax-cut, which cost him the Senate, has finally materialized its failure.
Nearly 40 states are expecting large budget deficits for the next fiscal year. With federal assistance, state economies could have made a faster recovery, but when a minor deficit is combined with a diminished tax revenue that minor deficit turns into an economic tragedy. Tax Revenue is down 8 percent nationwide and corporate tax revenue is down 18 percent. A combined 40 billion dollar shortfall plagues our state budgets according to the National Governors Association.
State officials are now forced to cut funding to several programs nationwide such as environmental protection, public education, law enforcement, and Medicaid. The horrible ramifications are too numerous to list.
National and State Parks across the country will not have enough money to remain open, like in Arizona, Utah, and Washington. Environmental controls won't be enforced or followed, further polluting our air and water. There will be fewer police on the streets, because they are now working on a smaller budget. Prisons will become even more overcrowded than they already are, provoking early releases for criminals. Seniors who depend on Medicaid to pay for medication will be forced to go without. Schools from coast-to-coast will be forced to fire teachers, creating larger classroom, and resulting in substandard education. Thousands of scholarships and grants that students depend on to pay for their education will be cut. The Pell Grant, which pays for my schooling, has a 1.7 million dollar shortage which will affect thousands of students in Indiana.
Tax-cuts, which mostly benefit the upper-class, indirectly destroy public programs that mostly benefit the middle and lower-class. The elitist republican tax-cuts are nothing but a political ploy to appeal to voters. People ignorantly vote for the candidate that offers them money without any idea of the future consequences. Now, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle-class are paying for all three--thanks shrub.
Some people would call my column ill-timed, even unpatriotic. Some people think ridiculing our president in a time of war is near treasonous. Some people are extraordinarily stupid. Our nation was founded by political opposition during a time of war. While England was finishing the Seven Years War and battling natives for control of the frontier, several brave men, we call our founding fathers, had the courage to oppose what they viewed as a corrupt and hypocritical government. When conservative republicans attack their critics with words like un-American they further prove that they are a fascist-like organization that labels any constructive criticism unpatriotic.
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