I dare anybody on the Left to read this article from my friend Sally Zelikovsky and call her a crazy "teabagger"...instead, you may find that you agree with her on many points, as well you should.
BIG GOVERNMENT DEBATE
"..AMERICA is in big trouble, but with the recent passage of the Budget Control Act, we took a giant leap toward SMART government and sustainable governance.
SMART (Save My America by Representing The People) government empowers citizens to elect representatives who listen and enact legislation according to the majority. Sustainable governance occurs when legislation yields a sustainable budget and a viable, prosperous economy with minimal intrusion into individual liberties.
While the debt ceiling fiasco didn't produce perfect results, it did generate SMART and sustainable outcomes.
Primarily, the voice of the people prevailed.
According to a July 2011 CNN poll, 74 percent of Americans supported a balance budget amendment and 66 percent supported "Cut, Cap and Balance."
While the Budget Control Act doesn't accomplish what "Cut, Cap and Balance" would have, it comes closer to public sentiment than anything the Democrats proposed — and, as demonstrated when Democrats rammed through health-care reform, ignoring public opinion is how they govern.
Senate Democrats emerged as obstructionists, prohibiting debate on the bipartisan "Cut, Cap and Balance" favored by 66 percent of Americans. Before any vote, Sen. Harry Reid announced the legislation would be dead on arrival.
Worse, President Barack Obama threatened to veto anything with a balanced budget amendment or spending
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caps tied to debt-ceiling increase.
This isn't some cockamamie scheme — 49 states and most municipalities require balanced budgets. With a $14 trillion deficit and frenzied spending, the Democrats refused to govern sustainably, putting a pernicious "tax-spend-and-raise-the-debt-ceiling" ideology ahead of real solutions.
The Tea Party emerged at the vanguard of American sentiment. Together with their conservative House brethren, they brought the debt-ceiling debate to the kitchen table and kitchen table solutions to Washington.
This is big news.
Predictably, the press revealed its bias. While excoriating Republicans for being "intransigent" on taxes, the press applauded Democrats for their willingness to compromise when, in fact, they stubbornly insisted on raising the debt ceiling and taxes.
An inflexible and out-of-touch president and Democrat-controlled Senate were on full display. The president emerged as an impotent negotiator whose stubborn ideology and failed policies exacerbated the economic outlook.
In the debt-ceiling debate, the winners were clearly the American people. They regained their collective voice and took the first steps toward SMART government and sustainable governance.
Every president has raised the debt ceiling, but that doesn't make it right. While hard-working citizens watch their dreams slip away because of Washington's spending addiction, they understand that this intervention is the first step toward eliminating the unsustainable practice of "spend-raise-spend-raise."
Fortunately, the people are more fiscally judicious than the politicians. They urged Washington to hold firm and save the country for our children by clinging, not to their "guns and bibles," but to the principles of cutting the size of government and reducing spending without debilitating tax hikes.
Sen. Reid said "The Tea Party direction... has been very, very disconcerting, and very unfair to the American people."
What's unfair is that Senate Democrats and President Obama refuse to exercise fiscal restraint.
What's disconcerting is that they do so on the backs of average folks.
That's neither smart nor sustainable."
Sally Zelikovsky of San Rafael is founder of Bay Area Patriots and coordinator of the San Francisco Tea Party.
