The Democrat Debate and the Elephant on their podiums

Dem. Debate – The Elephant in the Room

 The View from the Middle

There is one thing on which I can agree with every one of the Democratic Presidential candidates, this is a very important election and we, as citizens, need to be educated on the issues and the stances of all candidates on those issues.  We have to cut through the meaningless, factless hyperbole and personal attacks that all of these candidates can make.  The Republican Party does not hate everyone, as much as these people would like you to believe, any more than Democrats do.  Don’t be deceived by these head fakes, but concentrate on the issues.

There were a couple of issues on which I can even agree with Bernie Sanders.  We do need to reform our criminal justice system so that it doesn’t ruin the lives of many young, black men for nonviolent crimes.  The penalties for selling marijuana, which is actually legal in two states, are too harsh and need to be adjusted.  Should possession of it or even selling it be treated more like a speeding ticket than a felony?  I don’t know, but what we have today is flooding our jails and ruining lives.  There has to be some common ground here to fix this problem.

I also think we need campaign finance reform and according to a recent CBS News poll, 85% of Americans agree it should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt.  I’m a huge believer in free speech, but should a person be able to buy fifty million voices when most of us have just one.  There has to be some common sense limits we can put on campaign contributions that don’t allow undue influence by the extremely wealthy for personal benefit.

Now, let’s get to the real elephant in the room.  Bernie Sanders suggested that global warming would make our planet uninhabitable for our children.  Wow, and Dems accuse Republicans of using “scare tactics”.  If global warming (oops, sorry – climate change) does continue, the new, safer projections by these alarmists say that the cataclysm will occur in 100 to 200 years.  This is conveniently after they have made their millions and have long been dead.  Let me tell you about a real threat that could affect our children and grandchildren, and that is our national debt.   Our debt and deficits did not get a single mention by any candidate and not one single question by any of the moderators.  Let’s call this the “ostrich” strategy being employed by the debaters and journalistic incompetence by CNN.

Our debt is approaching 19 TRILLION dollars, and the service on that debt is $230 billion per year.  This annual expense is the fourth largest piece of the federal budget pie.  Fed interest rate will not stay at virtually zero forever, and for every one percent increase in interest rates, the service on our debt will go up about $180 billion a year.  If rates went up to 5% (the average for the 1990’s), the service on our debt would go over a trillion dollars a year and would rival Social Security and Unemployment combined for the top spot in the budget.  This has the potential of destroying our economy and standing in the world, not in a hundred years but easily in our lifetimes.

And what did these candidate promise?  Even more spending!  Free college tuition!  Free Medicare for all; free family leave pay, extension of Social Security and further subsidization of the wind and solar industry (more Solyndras).  This all sounds wonderful, but considering that annual budget deficits are projected to return to the trillion-dollar level by 2025, at which point our total debt will exceed $25 TRILLION, shouldn’t we start talking about the size of this gluttonous government that will cripple the future of our children? 

And how do they plan to pay for all of this new spending?  Higher taxes.  Bernie Sanders is suggesting a 90% top marginal tax on the rich and unlimited FICA taxes.  Again, this “whack the rich” approach sounds great, but it’s an illusion.  What rich person that you know is going to pay a 90% tax on any of their income.  These people have the flexibility to literally leave this country or at least have their money leave to avoid such a fate.  This avalanche of spending and taxing will not work and suggesting to the American people that it will is criminal.

By not even talking about this issue CNN and all of the Democratic candidates tried to blow a fast one past the American people.  For the future of our children we cannot allow this travesty to continue.  Understand the real issues and vote for realistic solutions to them, no matter what party label is affiliated with them.