– Democrats have no more self control over spending than Repub’s. Remember NOTHING would have been spent these past 8 years or so without support from some elected democrats.
The problem is that we have to vote every few years, and always ask “what have you done for me lately?”
– Approaching this from the stand point of “It’s MY money and I dont want to give it to you!” is probolmatic because we tend to forget all the services we consume everyday that is paid for by that money that was “taken” from you. Police, fire, building codes, military, courts, roads, airports, ports, food inspection. These are all services that each and everyone one of us uses everyday. They have a cost, and painful as it may be, passing the hat for firemen isnt exactly an effective way of collecting communal resources. (also, we use alot more of them than most people are willing to admit to themselves.)
-Alot of the buisness owners who we enshrine on here actually owe alot to the government as it is often their blunders and waste that give rise to new buisness. The internet was born by US government spending. Many new Medical improvements are due to NASA, NIH, or similar agency spending. etc etc.
-Everyone always says that we need a smaller gov, but then screams bloody murder if their pet projects get axed. Look at the schools this year. We have been throwing money at the CA public school system for years, and perception is that it is no better or maybe worse. Schools are a vast segment of the CA state budget, and cuts to the big stuff always work best to control costs. But good god, did people howl when cuts were proprosed. Try cuting fire, police, courts, environmental programs, or aid to the sick/elderly and the screams will be just as loud. I agree the GOv needs to get smaller, but I have trouble finding where to make significant cuts. I am against a bailout, so there is 300billion. If you know of other specific GOv programs that need an ax, please let me know what they are. We have atleast a few hundred billion to go to just get our nonwar budget deficts down. If we as a society cant make the cuts, then the services have value and we should be willing to cough up the cash for them.
-Politics always promises more than it delivers. This is election time, and the real bitch of the issue isnt talking about it now, it is delivering it in 2009. Dont think that everything you read now is ever gonna actually happen.