We the people that’s the line Michele Bachmann used, being broadcast C-span, saying no to currently raising the debt ceiling purporting the American people, her constituents have sent a clear message spending is out of control, they want spending in better control, using president Obama’s comment to congress: “eat your peas” to illustrate that’s what he wants average citizens to do as it pertains to more and higher taxes, increased debt and no change in financial practices. Yet that comment was in regards to congressional negotiations them “eating their peas” in terms of swallowing the compromises necessary to avoid a country wide, possibly global melt down as the US credit rating goes into default. Even on taxes any statement made by the presidency that could remotely be applied to the above is taxes for the wealthiest of Americans those making a quarter of a million dollars, millions, as much billions of dollars annually, so they don’t have to gouge middleclass, poorer persons. However Bachmann seems to be using people, her constituents to further her agenda of how the country should work, pushing a list of priority government bills to be paid, should they not meet the August 2nd deadline, should we see the forecasted Armageddon, instead of pushing for an agreement. Contrastingly the debt limit was raised a whopping 7 times under the Bush administration, so why not now to avoid the crisis, with the caveat that nothing else in congress gets done, until a spending bill to handle the problem is passed?
Yes we the people do want spending control but we do NOT want the whole of the nation to function like Minnesota 2, nearly 3 weeks after a statewide shutdown. We do NOT want the immediate interest rate and tax hikes to cripple us, crush the most vulnerable among us. We understand grannies in walkers, the disabled need their social security, Medicare, Medicaid, to live; we understand that military families need to get paid. Poor people need food stamps, aid to needy families’ impacts children, facts that do not change because the government officials meant to lead want to behave like squabbling children. We grasp the concept of meals for seniors, disability services to both adults and children being important and that the long term effect of not having services for those with autism, physical delays can impact us 20 years down the line, as these young people try to get jobs, live independently. Anyone who frequently visits the doctor, has ever recovered from a broken bone, muscle surgery understands the need for continuity of care, something that can’t be sidelined because the government can’t get its act together. We can visualize the forerunners of a crisis as those same grannies and benefit recipients, scared by the gridlock in Washington, will postpone buying nonessential items choosing instead to horde the money they do have, impacting struggling local economies, that with lack of consumer confidence, people to buy their products, businesses doing well, considering hiring workers will have that decision made for them, negatively. We the people comprehend it only compounds the mayhem of a revenue, financial crisis when state parks, monuments and other national treasures are closed at the height of vacation/tourist season, causing our nation to hemorrhage billions in would be tourism funds, because we handed the people operating said venues pink slips, owing to a lack of money to pay them.
Yes we the people sent our voted for representatives there to make change, but we also expected them to know when to hang up specific fights for the greater good of the people they are supposed to be acting on behalf of, because we grasp what the impact of no liquor licenses, expired liquor licenses, no one to process liquor brand registration means, can’t get my favorite beer or drink in a bar, in such oppressive times I can’t have a cheap form of solace, entertainment, or so it was for Minnesota residents. Translating into another profound loss of funds as, bars restaurants and establishments serving alcohol no longer can, as the ones still able to serve such beverages, for a limited time, are likewise limited in the kinds they have available, driving off customers. Parents everywhere realize the need for daycare, soon employers realized it too as it became a non-essential service and many child care facilities teetered on the edge of closing without their government subsidy, potentially robbing them of workers; fortunately for Minnesota citizens, it was later deemed an essential service, subsidies were paid and those with children could continue job training programs, employment due to having a place to send their kids daily. On a national scale don’t hope for the same, because should government pay the interest on the debt, continue payments to military and their families, keep social security, Medicare and Medicaid operational, there will be no funding for the CDC the FBI, aid for the needy, just to name a few of the services everyone depends on.
Americans across all political parties, constituents of at least one member in Washington recognize the value of compromise; this is what we the people truly want right now so that our great nation is not further embarrassed, is not brought to its knees. And compromise can happen. Democrats purpose tax hikes republicans want entitlement reform, so republicans swallow proportionate tax hikes on those making a quarter million or more; democrats accept entitlement reform similar to what the president outlined in a press conference less Medicare benefits for Americans like himself, the wealthy, those with secondary or private insurance other than just Medicare. Compromises like this should have been part of the landscape all along; Paul Ryan’s plan to rewrite Medicare, possibly fundamentally changing government itself, sent shockwaves and nervousness throughout the public. Raising the retirement age isn’t necessarily a bad idea; it’s the who and the how tea party members need to rethink. Instead of changing retirement capabilities for people 55 and below, potentially wreaking havoc on persons in their 40’s and 50’s having paid in all this time, raise the retirement age on those college age and below, giving the government time to build the framework, author legislation and change attitudes thus ensuring the younger generations can work longer. Stiffer penalties could be exacted from those who retire early, for reasons other than health or ability to find work i.e. 62 year olds who want to play gulf or young millionaires who want to backpack around a region or foreign country. Job creation initiatives same thing infrastructure, take the number of $ wanted by democrats, the number wanted by republicans add them, divide by 2; that gives you the average and that’s the amount of funding given to the project. Payroll tax cuts for another year too much for the growing debt; only continue it in the places with the most success. Try an identical measure with the job retraining attached to increasing exports; only give it to the places asking for it.
Stopping waste is also a crucial part of controlling the debt and satisfying congresses entire, national constituency. We the people are more than tired of mega corporations making gargantuan profits and finding ways to pay no income tax, receive government aid; we are fed up with plans being put forth restricting pensions, actively trying to destroy unions, gut later life safety nets like social security and Medicare while political leaders give subsidies to oil companies who admit they probably don’t need them. We are sick of tea party nitwits saying no new taxes, even on the upper echelon, while continuing to allow the US mint to produce dollar coins, all honoring dead presents, that no one wants at a cost of $600,000 a day in storage $650,000 to build additional storage space and a whopping 3 million to ship coins to said space, because they are too busy yelling at democrats, throwing temper tantrums and walking out of meetings to begin to pass the law to stop it. Again cracking down on fraud and incompetence that raise the cost of healthcare and every other government and consumer, citizen expense, when Washington’s accountants literally can’t figure out where millions, billions of dollars were spent, people hired to regulate and monitor things like the housing market, the financial environment, who should have seen danger on the horizon but didn’t, keep their job. Financial reform doesn’t seem to have curbed Wall Street’s profit making ability and markets can be upended by someone’s so call fat finger. When we have to foot the bill for thousands of dollars in investigations like Anthony Weiner, who finally admitted to sending the inappropriate material; there should have been no question, not talk of an investigation. You did it; you’re fired, fortunately for the tax paying public Weiner resigned before the investigation got underway. However we have paid for similar investigations time and time again.
At least the National Science Foundation research, no matter how silly at a glance, can have significant merit later. The million dollar robot folding laundry today could be the firefighters and EMTs of tomorrow, without the loss of life. The shrimp on a treadmill funding can teach us a lot about physiology, the health of our environment, allow testing for things that years from now may help cure disease. Ironically no less than two years ago when a robot capable of making facial expressions mimicking emotion was featured on Dateline everyone oooed and awed, not the least bit worried about how much government money was or wasn’t involved; on one hand we have complaints about the shrimp experiment, on the other we have characterized bleeding hearts objecting the testing of everything from cosmetics to medicine on high order animals possessing anything close to a face. To say nothing of the justifiably stringent requirements for human drug trials, you can’t have it both ways. Knowing as much as we can about social media is a good thing considering an entire generation has been, is being raised, on it; studying reactions to trendy baby names is a window into human behavior. The Jell-O wrestling our watchdog congressmen was so outraged about wasn’t a funded experiment but employees passing spare time, the key word being spare, in some middle of nowhere area of Alaska, likely sans television, i-phone reception and human civilization outside of the team sent there. Although it should hardly be surprising since over the years authority figures from government to employers increasingly think they have the right to dictate what we eat, wear, and entertain ourselves with, behind closed doors or not; however one doubts if people in his inner circle chastise him for his leisure activity.
Creative problem solving also has to be part of the equation; one way the extraordinarily wealthy could avoid further taxes is by being given a list of current, former government programs they can donate a portion of their income to. So those well off individuals that believe strongly in women’s rights can fund places like Planned Parenthood, government no longer has to eliminating the conservative conflict; those who feel strongly about the welfare of animals, endangered species can sponsor a species or a group of them, government doesn’t have to spend money it doesn’t have and can put the money they save toward more essential services for everyone. Corporations could get in on this too rather than paying any increased taxes donating portions of their profits to worthwhile services, entities usually covered by the government, providing it’s not creating a conflict of interest, too close to the products and services provided by the company, making sure their monetary involvement doesn’t influence public broadcasting’s programming for instance. We’ve seen the positives of companies donating to schools; now if we could get one wealthy individual, company to supplement a school or a district in every city. There would be no more cuts to art, music, sports, beneficial field trips because schools can’t afford the basics. No more lack of textbooks and classroom materials; schools would automatically have better teachers because they could afford to pay for high quality persons, pay for the training needed to develop the best for all children. Even at only a reduced cost for our nation’s government, savings can be funneled into Medicare, social security, aid to the needy or applied to paying off our debt.
Yes we the people want change, but those listed above are the kinds of changes we want to see, not obstinate politicians willing to plunge our country into disaster to get their way. Of course we the people want fiscal responsibility, but not at the expense complete gridlock, a total lack of function nationwide from liquor to child care, business and marriage licenses to vacation hotspots because leaders can’t, or rather won’t, work together. We are tired of benefits obviously for the rich being tied to the middle class, tax breaks blatantly meant for the rich being tied to the middle class, just so the well off can continue raking in the money. Neither do we want millions more job losses, as everything shuts down, states forced to have no police, no fire, no animal control leading to marshal law, curfews, looting and a massive pile of disorder and chaos, in order for republican extremists to make a point. And we the people certainly don’t agree with being the excuse to cause such happenings; that is NOT what we want.