Republicans have successfully equated “Tax and Spend” and the “Democratic Party” for as long as I can remember. They have been extremely successful in throwing out this phrase to scare tax payers into believing that Democrats want to take their hard earned money and squander it on things that the Republicans feel are unnecessary. Every time a Republican is running for office, or just talking about Democrats in general, the term is used as an insult, without a rebuttal from Democrats.

I don’t understand why Democrats haven’t embraced this term and used it to their own advantage. “Tax and Spend” actually equates to “fiscal responsibility”. It has nothing to do with over taxing citizens or wasteful spending. It simply means that we should pay for what we spend rather than borrowing the money from our children and grand children.

Republicans would have us believe that money grows on trees; that we don’t have to worry about where the money is coming from; that our government can spend and spend without the American people having to pay a dime; that we can go to war with two countries simultaneously and not have to worry about who is paying for it.

During the past 8 years the Republican Party has borrowed money that we, as a nation, just don't have. If the public had been made at least partly responsible, through increased taxes, for the debt we are incurring because of 2 wars, I doubt we'd be in this mess today. President Bush's cavalier "shop-till-you-drop" and "ignore the costs of these wars" attitude has done incredible harm to our country. Instead of making a point of telling the American people where the money they are spending is coming from, the Republican Party has just borrowed it, not worrying about when it would have to be paid back.

Well its time to stop their fiscal irresponsibility and lying to the American people. They want the American people to think that we “Democrats” are the bad guys just because we want fiscal responsibility. It is time the American people know that we “Democrats” want to bring our fiscal house in order by stopping the Republican Party from spending money we don’t have.

We have now borrowed over $9.6 TRILLION and that figure is rapidly increasing by over $690+ BILLION a year. Every single American man, woman, and child in this country now owes over $31,000 each. Instead of telling the American people, “we just can’t afford it” or saying, “we’ll have to increase taxes to get it”, they have simply not bothered Americans with the details and charged it on our national credit card.

The money they are borrowing is coming from our excess Social Security payments each year and foreign countries. The Social Security Trust Fund actually has “$0” in it. It is not a Trust Fund at all, but a collection of government IOUs that will eventually have to be paid back by increased taxes and/or reduced spending. Not only that, but we have been borrowing money from China and other foreign Countries. We now owe over $2.5 TRILLION to them and that number is rapidly increasing.

I do agree that in national emergencies it is necessary to borrow money to cover short term debt that might overwhelm our economy, but Republicans are borrowing money just to keep our current economy, as lousy as it is, afloat. Our borrowing goes way beyond the money needed to pay for two wars. Of the over $690+ BILLION being borrowed each year, only about $120+ BILLION of that is being used to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The rest is being used to pay interest on our ever increasing national debt and every day bills. We are living far beyond our means and this is being sustained only by borrowing money.

This is truely "taxation without representation". Most Americans have no idea that our government (under the Republicans) are mortgaging their future and the future of their children without asking them whether they want to pay for it or not, and that they are responisble for this debt. Just because it is a future debt, doesn't mean it's not taxation. Sooner or later Americans will have to pay this money back through taxes.

We should be proud of the term “Tax and Spend Democrat”. It stands for taking responsibility for what we as a nation spend, for putting our fiscal house in order, and stopping the Republicans from trading our children’s future for immediate political gains.

IT'S OUR FUTURE, and we “Tax and Spend Democrats” should take it back from those “Borrow and Spend Republicans”, because regardless of what Republicans want the American people to believe, there is no such thing as "something for nothing".

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Quote:

"The budget should be balanced; the treasury should be refilled; public debt should be reduced; and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled." Cicero. 106-43 B.C.