Brandon James Hines
Chairman, The George Washington University College Republicans
Ideology: Conservative | Writing from: Washington, D.C.
In the Obama White House, the new adage “never let a crisis go to waste” has highlighted the President’s overwhelming domestic agenda. So much so, in fact, that it is clear the President is missing opportunities to make real changes, rather than more empty promises, growing problems, and enlarging the national debt.
Set against the backdrop of some $12 trillion in debt, the President is calling for even more spending in the form of health care reform, which the CBO estimates will cost upwards of $1 trillion. While health care reform is an important issue, the President has failed to address the real crisis: exploding debt and entitlement reform.
With such abstract numbers, many Americans may not realize what an out-of-control deficit means for the immediate future of our country. Paying for the nationalization of our auto-industry, the bank bailouts, and Barack Obama’s venture to create America’s first health insurance company, will create an environment of spending where we can expect higher taxes and higher interest rates. People will be working harder and keeping less of their money. This is un-American.
To give President Obama some credit, he is right that reforming health care will save us billions of dollars. However, it is wrong, even illogical, to state that in order to accomplish this we need to spend the trillion or more dollars the Democrats are suggesting in order to reform the health care system.
Let’s get serious about making change. Let’s tackle entitlement reform—the greatest single domestic challenge to the future of our country. Namely, let’s reform Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Currently, entitlement spending on these programs will more than double by 2050, with entitlements eclipsing all federal revenue by 2052, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Shifting to a system that focuses on personal savings accounts instead of defined-benefits has been a key agenda item of the Republican Party for some time, yet has been thwarted by Democrats intent on preserving an out-dated, broke, government-run system.
Social Security, as a classic example, is set on a course for failure. In 1945 there were 45 workers per Social Security beneficiary. Today, it is 3.3 workers to one beneficiary. Social Security will go broke in 2012 unless something is done to fix it according to the 2008 Social Security Trustees report. Social Security will spend more than it takes in, in much the same way the federal government will operate in 2052 unless the Obama Administration gets a clue, and fast.
But, instead the Obama Administration is focused on health care—putting the cart before the horse, if you will. What happens when we default on our debt to foreign countries? When the dollar is no longer the reserve currency for the world? What will happen to our international super-power status and the notion of the American Dream?
Ronald Reagan once said, “We are a nation with a government, not the other way around.” It’s a testimony to the great American spirit that, already so soon into President Obama’s term, the American people are beginning to wake up. It’s time to stand-up and fight for our liberty from taxation and big government before the American dream—synonymous with freedom and equal opportunity without government interference—becomes a term in our children’s history books.
Have you ever thought that maybe there are ways to save the federal budget besides cutting entitlement spending . . . such as the bloated defense budget? And does it not matter that health care reform will actually /decrease/ the structural deficit?
What you call entitlement spending, I call a right (health care). What you call un-American I call civil and decent.
Bloated defense budget? When skies are blue, its “bloated,” but should anything happen its “underfunded.”
Health Care is one of the most pressing issues of our time. If we don’t reform it now, you can say goodbye to our notion of the American Dream.
Luke,
A right? Health care is a right that the government must provide for us? No where in the Constitution does is say that health care must be provided by the government.
What else is a “right” by your standards?
Should the government provide us with housing too? Should the government pay for our college tuitions? Should it provide us with our basic needs, as if we can’t do that on our own?
If you want your government to baby you, and provide you with everything as if you are incapable of providing for yourself, maybe you should try out Sweden.
What makes America great is that we can provide health care for our people on our own. We do not need a government take-over to cover those who aren’t covered, we are not dependent on the hand of government for our needs. We must turn to Republican, free market solutions if we want to maintain the top-notch quality care that we have today.
“Have you ever thought that maybe there are ways to save the federal budget besides cutting entitlement spending . . . such as the bloated defense budget? And does it not matter that health care reform will actually /decrease/ the structural deficit?”
Defense budget is a couple hundred billion. We have $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Even if we could and did eliminate the military entirely, we wouldn’t even have a significant fraction of the money we’ve already promised to people as entitlements.
“What you call entitlement spending, I call a right (health care). What you call un-American I call civil and decent.”
Entitlement spending is not a politically charged term. Anytime the government promises to pay you in the future, that is an entitlement.
You might call it “civil and decent,” and the majority might agree with you, but if we can’t pay for it, it doesn’t matter if it’s your “right” or not–you’ll get nothing.
This government is bankrupt.
Tim, where the hell does the number $60 trillion come from?
“If significant reforms are not undertaken, benefits under entitlement programs will exceed government income by over $40 trillion over the next 75 year” That is from wikipedia which I trust with my life. Maybe not 60 trillion but still a pretty big number. We either have to raise taxes, cut spending, or do some of both. This is not a political opinion, but a fact.