Bitter Tea for Two Parties 

 

With all the posturing and stagecraft of the last couple of days we wind up with another media circus. Again, generally it was designed as much by the journalists as the legislators to avoid speaking frankly about why this budget from almost a year ago has not been dealt with, and just how short-lived this resolution - - or should I say deflection from reality - - will be.

 

Of course the question now being asked is which political party came out of this choreographed skirmish the victor, and whose values and priorities will rule the day, at least for the near future.  The answer this time, and maybe for the first time in recent history is - - neither!

 

Try as they might, the Democratic megaphone and most mainstream journalists have not been successful in convincing the average citizen that the Tea Party and the Republican Party are one in the same; for they are far from it.

 

The message from this budget battle is multi-faceted, and it is the Tea Party’s message that both Democrats and Republicans now have to drink the bitter tea of truth - - truth they have dodged for so many years that no one can recall when facts trumped fiction at election time.

 

Regardless of how many from either party don’t want to face reality, we as a county are circling the drain of economic failure and dismemberment of the social strata if we do not treat these budget and fiscal issues for what they really are.  Furthermore, spending the people’s money outside of the law and for projects that can be done more efficiently by the public sector is no longer going to be tolerated. The only way to work toward balancing income and outgo at the federal level is not a national priority,  and that is the message these average citizens sent in the last election, and it was the main motivator in how decisions were made this week.

 

Bottom line, the new majority House Republicans, who have the responsibility to present a budget, did so following the message from the Tea Party that cutting spending and making it clear that others will be reviewed and cut would be their centerpiece.  Some old guard Republicans did not want to go there; particularly in the Senate. But the message was clear - - you’re next - - when the voices of the people will be heard in the next election.  For those who have not been following, Independents now outnumber Democrats and Republicans and will determine all future election outcomes.

 

There is also no such thing as a ‘safe Democratic seat” as there have been since the 1930s in some urban areas. Blue Dog and even city Democrats know for sure that they must work with the Tea Party concept to stop spending, decrease borrowing and stabilize the currency and balance inflation or we will not be a self-sustaining country in a very short period.

 

Look at Europe and witness what happens to industrialized countries who promise more than they can deliver, have no money for defense, and then raid our Federal Reserve through the back door when we could have used those funds in creating jobs here through loans to our own businesses.  You don’t need a Master’s Degree in finance to figure that one out and you can bet the Tea Party will be shouting it louder than ever now that the course has been set.

 

The next budget, already in the making, and the national debt will push aside all other debates like a financial Tsunami not seen in this country since 1933 when some very smart  folks stabilized the currency and reset the standards for fiscal behavior that the world has modeled ever since.

 

Thank the Tea Party for drawing the line in the sand.  They are those people that Lincoln meant when he said “you can’t fool all the people all the time”.

 

Jim Foster

Publisher

Germantown Newspapers Inc.

5275 Germantown Ave.

Philadelphia Pa.

215-438-5171