A Boston Tea Party … (Kent Conrad, master of the charade)

A true fiscal conservative spends no more than he makes. A true fiscal conservative believes that cutting spending is the first option when balancing a budget. A true fiscal conservative votes yes for a balanced budget amendment. A true fiscal conservative does not believe in government pork.

Kent Conrad, the self-proclaimed budget hawk of the Democratic Party, does not believe in any of the rules listed above. Oh, every time we see him on TV he is crying about the deficit spending of the Republican Party. This is the same Kent Conrad that voted against a balanced budget amendment. The same Kent Conrad who has never proposed a single budget cut on any federal program. Kent will follow with the argument that under the Clinton administration the budget was balanced than in fact the government had a huge surplus. Another instance where Conrad is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. There was a surplus during the Clinton administration but it had nothing to do with budget hawks the likes of Mr. Conrad. Spending continued with moderate increases while tax dollars coming into the federal government soared. Clinton had a tax increase, but most importantly the economic boom of the ‘90’s provided the federal government with more money to spend. It would be no different than you getting a surprise bonus from your employer. The problem with politicians from both political parties was that they figured they would be receiving this bonus each and every year for as long as their budgeted forecasts could predict. Magically they declared themselves as budget balancers. Having done so without holding down any expenditures. Talk about pulling a rabbit out of a hat, Kent Conrad could bring more pork back to North Dakota and still claim to be a budget hawk.

As we all know, those wonderful ‘90’s did not last forever. Our 401k’s all looked so good. Everyone was making money and with everyone making money the federal government was collecting more money. Politicians were spending every dime that was being collected. No reason to expect the economic boom to stop, but it did. It did on September 11, 2001. All of a sudden those projected collections of our tax dollars were not as large as once thought. They weren’t going to continue for as far as the eye could see. Republicans even passed a tax cut, a large tax cut. You and I and everyone else got to keep a little more of their own money. Shame on us. Spending wasn’t cut, very much the opposite, our politicians increased spending. We needed Homeland Security and senior citizens needed a medical drug program. Now we have deficits for as far as the eye can see. Will we ever hear discussions on spending cuts. Hell no! Have you ever heard Kent Conrad or any other budget hawk talk about spending cuts? Rule one for a politician is pork equals reelection. Spending cuts equal a real job.

Don’t get the wrong impression; Conrad is not the only politician to play this charade. If your read enough books you will find that easily ninety percent of our politicians act the same way. My problem with Kent Conrad is that he yells louder than most about the government needing to be so fiscally responsible. The charade is Conrad is more like a dove than a hawk when it comes to cutting spending. Don’t ever believe a Democrat will spend less than a Republican. Just the words “Democrat” and “spending cuts” are contradictions. Speak softly Mr. Conrad or guys like me will hit you over the head with a big stick.