Don’t Tread on History

“They [tax cuts] are essential for the long run, as well — to lay the groundwork for future growth and future prosperity.  That growth will bring the added benefit of higher revenues for the government — revenues that will keep tax rates low, while fulfilling key obligations and protecting programs such as Medicare and Social Security.”  George W. Bush, January 7, 2003.

The once pristine full faith and credit of the United States is spiraling towards denigration and default for no reason other than to appease those whose visceral hate of President Obama supersedes any sense of responsibility.  Their puppeteers obdurately re-write American history into a false Founding Father – World War II – Ronald Reagan narrative, while demanding that people like me forget the most obvious and proximate historical cause of our current predicament: The George W. Bush Presidency.

I will not forget.  I will not get over it.  George W. Bush is certainly not exclusively responsible for our collective failure to prepare for globalization, anticipate the evisceration of blue collar jobs by better training the workforce, or our boom/bust obfuscations of reality.  Nevertheless, the policies of his lost decade hastened rather than cushioned the blows.

While George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress destroyed surpluses, ran up the national debt and routinely increased the debt ceiling, their White Citizens Council begat John Birch Society begat Christian Coalition begat Tea Party “conservative” cohorts looked the other way.  When the country should have railed against rampant deficit spending during the Bush years, instead this is what we talked about: