October 15, 2024

Presidents Clinton and Obama Still Don’t Get Tea Partiers’ Issues

Former President Bill Clinton spent his Friday trying to tar Tea Partiers with the domestic terrorism brush, saying:

Before the bombing occurred, there was a sort of fever in America

Meanwhile, the fabric of American life had been unraveling.

Meanwhile, current President Barack Obama resorted to his typical smug, above-the-fray humor by mocking Tea Partiers’ concerns over his administration’s massive spending programs:

I’ve been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you.

What’s apparent in these veiled disparagements is that neither president is capable of or willing to acknowledge the legitimate issues that are driving the Tea Party movement. That’s understandable, for to address the real issues that the Tea Parties are about would be to put a spotlight on all that is wrong with Democratic politics.

Consider the federal budget as a prime example. While it’s undeniable that the Bush 43 administration was a fiscal disaster, the Obama administration has unleashed the full spending fury of a scorned generation of radical liberal spendthrifts. The result has been a tripling of the already massive budget deficit left by President Bush. This fact cannot be spun or denied; all that Mr. Obama can do to cover his record is mock the people who point out the fact that his economic policies are nakedly political and ill-advised.

By comparing Tea Partiers to Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, President Clinton is shooting the messenger. What he must know, however, is that the message they’ve delivered is real: The American people want a balanced budget, a reduced welfare state, and a sustainable, healthy economy, something that can only happen in the absence of Democratic economic and social policies.

So, no, Mr. Obama, don’t expect the people to thank you for mortgaging their children’s futures by buying votes today using government largesse. Very few Americans believe that taxes will stay low under this president and with good reason. Democrats’ spending spree must be paid for and since government neither produces nor sells any useful goods or services, taxes must inevitably be raised to cover the difference. That will be the true legacy of this administration, along with its positively frightful arrogance.

Finally, it’s obvious that neither Democratic president accepts any responsibility whatever for the waves of discontent that swept the country during each of their administrations. That’s unfortunate, because if either man were truly honest we might be able to have a meaningful national dialog about the true cause of people’s dislike, even hatred, of Washington: confiscatory liberal policies that are designed to redistribute wealth by taking from those who produce and earn and give to those who do not in exchange for their votes.

Until the Democrats confront the effects of their policies and take responsibility for the unrest that they themselves have caused, I expect that every Democratic administration will be met by the kind of organized resistance that President Obama faces now. I certainly hope so, for if left to their own devices, liberal leaders would destroy all that’s left of the individualism that built this country.

marc

Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.

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