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Monday, September 04, 1995 Page: 6A
Conservatives don’t want to foot the bill for liberal idealism anymore
As the date fast approaches for Congress to reconvene and begin the arduous
task of balancing the federal budget, liberals everywhere are busy marshaling
their forces in order to prevent the sacrifice of 30-odd years of socialism on
the altar of fiscal reformChief among their weapons is the art of rhetoric:
Conservatives, we are told, “have no feelings” and “lack the compassion”
required to understand the “needs” of today’s society — brutish bullies who
would “starve children” in an orgy of budgetary bloodletting.
While I personally feel it’s a wonderful idea to save the world, eliminate
poverty, and usher in a new era of utopian bliss; if we bankrupt our nation in
accomplishing it, which at this moment we stand on the very brink of doing,
then our descendants will inherit not utopia, but hell.
And make no mistake, the specter of federal bankruptcy is very real, as the
ongoing budget battles in Washington attest.
A simple but telling insight into the gravity of the crisis is the fact
that the present argument is over how to balance future budgets in the next
seven to 10 years: very little is being said regarding past budgets and their
huge deficits which have saddled us with a monumental national debt, whose
interest payments according to G.A.O. figures now amount to $257 billion in
the 1996 budget, just $5 billion less than our total spending on national
defense.
The issue seems to resolve itself into one of federal fiscal excess versus
taxpayer reluctance to shoulder the resultant onerous burden.
With their utopian plans for a socialistic society trapped in the middle of
this conflict, the liberal elite have unleashed a campaign of misinformation
and vilification, attempting to paint anyone audacious enough to question
social spending in the name fiscal responsibility as a right-wing wacko or
insensitive. I feel I am neither, yet I find both the facts of our economic
crisis and the vituperation of the liberals extremely disturbing.
In 1995 the federal government will spend well over $300 billion on
welfare, administered through 17 different programs. This is $100 billion
dollars more than was spent 10 years ago. During the Great Depression, a
half-million people received public assistance in one form or another; today
that figure is over 14 million, making welfare recipients one of the fastest
growing segments of our population. This comes as no great surprise since the
illegitimate birth rate has almost tripled since 1970. It is estimated that in
1996 three out of every 10 new babies will be born out of wedlock.
And who is supposed to pay the medical bills, increased AFDC checks,
additional free housing, food stamps and the plethora of other entitlements
most of these births will entail? Why the taxpayer, of course.
Which would be an elegant, albeit temporary solution to the problem, save
for the difficulty that the taxpayer no longer has the desire to do so nor the
funds to spare.
Inflationary pressures pushing people into higher tax brackets and
increased tax rates do not alone give a total picture of the taxpayer’s
problems. We must also consider the myriad new taxes in effect since 1955 —
sales tax on almost everything we purchase piled atop excise taxes, tariffs,
duties, punitive taxes, hidden taxes, etc. The list is, unfortunately, quite
long and very costly.
Is it any wonder that a newly elected Republican Congress, well aware that
its election victory was the result of taxpayer dissatisfaction, is striving
to correct the fiscal errors of the past? Or that a new era of political
awareness is growing among the nation’s voters as they come to realize that
the ongoing conflicts in Washington will have a profound effect on all our
lives?
Bob Grant
Wyoming
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