Revolting Against Government Spending

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Revolting Against Government Spending

May-24-2010

As Americans see what's happening in Europe, they've grown increasing frustrated by a Congress and a White House that continues to spend. And there's now a growing revolt against government spending.



The American people are serious about controlling our massive government deficits and debt. The past few decades of spending have left us in a precarious position, and the American people have awoken to the reality that our economy will come crashing down again if something isn't done. Yet the Democrats and this Obama administration haven't been listening to our call. That is, until several high-profile incumbents have faced the wrath of these voters. Maybe now Washington will get the message.



Barone writes: "It has long been a maxim of political scientists that American voters are ideologically conservative and operationally liberal. That is another way of saying that they tend to oppose government spending in the abstract but tend to favor spending on particular programs. It's another explanation of why the culture of appropriators continued to thrive after the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 and during the eight years of George W. Bush's presidency.



"In the past rebellions against fiscal policy have concentrated on taxes rather than spending. In the 1970s, when inflation was pushing voters into higher tax brackets, tax revolts broke out in California and spread east. Ronald Reagan's tax cuts were popular, but spending cuts did not follow. Bill Clinton's tax increases led to the Republican takeover and to tax cuts at both the federal and state levels but spending boomed under George W. Bush.



"The rebellion against the fiscal policies of the Obama Democrats, in contrast, is concentrated on spending. The Tea Party movement began with Rick Santelli's rant in February 2009, long before the scheduled expiration of the Bush tax cuts in January 2011.



"What we are seeing is a spontaneous rush of previously inactive citizens into political activity, a movement symbolized but not limited to the Tea Party movement, in response to the vast increases in federal spending that began with the Troubled Asset Relief Program legislation in fall 2008 and accelerated with the Obama Democrats' stimulus package, budget and health care bills.



"The Tea Party folk are focusing on something real. Federal spending is rising from about 21 percent to about 25 percent of gross domestic product -- a huge increase in historic terms -- and the national debt is on a trajectory to double as a percentage of GDP within a decade. That is a bigger increase than anything since World War II."



CLICK HERE TO READ MICHAEL BARONE'S FULL COLUMN IN THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER.

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