Below is a letter I sent to my congressional representative, Diane Black.
Dear Representative Black,
I share your concerns over the mounting national debt as most Americans do…finally. I have been voicing this concern to my representatives for over 15 years. For over 15 years I have been telling everyone I know there is a national debt train wreck coming and “we” are responsible for it. The electorate is ultimately responsible because we have spent the currency of our citizenship (our vote) very poorly for decades; naively clinging to what divides us rather than embracing what unites us. Our representatives, with few exceptions, are responsible because they are blinded by party loyalty, ambition or greed.
There is only one solution to our debt crisis and it is a very simple idea; a balanced budget amendment. Recent history has proven that nothing short of the iron-clad force of law will stop the insanity of spending beyond our means. Passage of a balanced budget amendment will be difficult. Difficult because most of our elected representatives remain, for reasons stated above, blind. Balancing the federal budget will require deep cuts in Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security reforms; stop using it as a congressional slush fund. Republicans are quick to mention the necessity for social spending cuts but sightless to the reality of unsustainable levels in military spending.
Democrats rigorously defend out-of-control domestic spending while Republicans rigorously defend out-of-control military spending. I favor deep cuts in both as I believe most Americans do. I resent the snares of contentious rhetoric from both parties intended to aimlessly divide the American people.
The GOP must have a budget plan that includes deep cuts in military spending to reduce the national debt and gain credibility with the American people. Sadly, most of us have learned to listen for what politicians are not saying in our search for the truth. Paul Ryan’s budget is lukewarm. As written it will not balance the federal budget for 26 years and contains no significant defense spending cuts.
We can’t afford the wars we are currently engaged in. More importantly we cannot afford the ideology and policies that drag the United States into these conflicts. Most politicians today ignore the prophetic warnings to stay out of foreign entanglements and wars from our founding fathers and more recently, Dwight D. Eisenhower. A sound defense policy requires we maintain the strongest military in the world with a 20-40 year technological advantage over other nations. We can accomplish this for a fraction of our current defense budget.
The policy of borrowing billions of dollars from other countries while spending billions of dollars to provide security for other countries has to end; this is a case study in fiscal insanity.
The neo-conservative ideology that assumes we should and can shove democracy down the throats of other nations is unconstitutional and financially unsustainable. It leads to mission creep as we have seen in Afghanistan and blatant military adventurism in places like Iraq and now Libya.
The Bush doctrine of preeminent war is also unconstitutional and in my view, immoral. I remember watching an estimated one million Iranian citizens on television flooding the streets of Tehran in a demonstration of genuine compassion for and solidarity with the American people after the 911 attacks. George Bush’s administration along with the 107th congress destroyed this historic opportunity to build a lasting friendship with most of the Arab people in the world overnight with the invasion of Iraq. We will never know what fruit that friendship could have produced in the ashes of a war we started for reasons that never existed.
It’s very fashionable this political season to say one’s motives are rooted in a genuine concern for the country we will leave to our grandchildren. It’s a little hard to believe when it comes from politicians that spend more time seeking campaign contributions than they do representing the American people. Their words are hollow and promises empty.
Our great country will not survive the partisan politics that has created a 14 trillion dollar national debt. I will be praying for you and our country.
Respectfully,
Paul Stewart
