Sections

I was going to start this out with a disclaimer; something to let the Brandeis Republicans (featured so prominently in last week’s edition of The Hoot) know that I am not trying to call them liars.

But then I realized that this is exactly what I am doing, and it can’t be helped. Though I admit, I do respect some conservative ideals, I feel that today’s Republican Party has been built on lies and deceit, and the American people deserve honesty.

You might be thinking, “What lies could he be talking about?” Actually, if you are a hard-core Republican, you may be thinking something more like, “How dare this liberal-commie insult my principles and the party that Reagan built?!?!?!”

I think I can start with that.

Ronald Reagan was, admittedly, a pretty good guy. He gave the nation a sense of optimism at a time when many Americans were not proud of their country or their government. For that, he is to be commended, and he has, but unfortunately, his leadership has given birth to a legend that has been blown way out of proportion.

Remember the Republicans who were running for president? Sure most of them have dropped out of the race of suspended their campaigns, but for a while they were making some particularly entertaining headlines. Personally, I loved hearing them claim that Reagan was the fiscal conservative that they sought to emulate.

Excuse me? Ronald Reagan? Fiscal conservative? This isn’t adding up.

If I remember my history, Reagan was the guy who promised to cut taxes and spending, but only managed to do the former. As a result, our national debt at the time tripled, so you would think that the government would have learned its lesson. But we haven’t. Look at our current fiscal policy, which, once again, consists of low taxes and massive spending. It was put in place by another president who promised to be a fiscal conservative, just like Reagan.

People still love it, because at the end of the day, people love low taxes.

In fact, if I may change the subject slightly, that’s exactly how the Republicans get a lot of their support. They tell Americans that they want them to keep most of their hard-earned money, and they are sure to stress that all the evil Democrats want to do is tax us to death and spend the money on some Soviet-inspired government programs.

Allow me to clear up the issue.

When President Bush entered office eight years ago he quickly implemented another Reagan ideal, the “trickle-down theory”. Essentially, he gave wealthy Americans massive tax cuts, in the hope that some of that money would “trickle-down” to the rest of us.

I have news for America. This theory never has, and never will, work. All it does is give wealthy Americans more money that they don’t need, at everyone else’s expense.

But President Bush was a smart politician (well, no, his advisors were). He made sure to give all Americans smaller tax cuts to keep us all happy. But I am not happy. I know that this policy has set a terrible precedent, one that may very well haunt America for years to come.

Remember, we are at war, in two countries, no less. As far as I know no president in US history, no nation in human history, has ever lowered taxes during a war. And yet here is our president, proud of his tax cuts, and calling for even more. All the while, we are forced to borrow billions of dollars from all over the world, sending our national debt higher than ever.

Speaking of war, I have one final Republican lie that must be cleared up.

Does anyone aside from me wonder how the man who was President during the 9/11 attacks manage to label himself as the man who can keep us safe? Because it doesn’t seem like he did a very good job in stopping those attacks. In fact, how did the entire Republican Party manage to win the title of “Defenders of America”? Did they manage to capture Osama bin Laden without telling us? Nope. They just lied. And they lie again and again every day, trying to convince us that unless we give them our undying support, terrorists will kill us and we will be taxed into economic ruin (in no particular order).

Congratulations on making it through my rant, and yes, I did just cover three topics at once. Many of you may be wondering, “Why was it necessary for you, to write all this?” Well, I’ll tell you.

This year is election year. It is not just a presidential election; it is also a congressional election, as well as many local elections. Through observation, which I am not alone in making, I have come to the conclusion that the Republican Party as we know it is crooked and corrupt to an unbearable level. Republicans have not only violated our trust with their lies and deceit, but they have violated our most sacred document of all, the Constitution of the United States. They have done so countless times, and it is our civic duty to throw them out of public office.

The Democratic Party, regardless of how it has been portrayed by the Republicans, holds a set of principles that are respectable. Believe it or not, the Democrats have a much better record in regards to fiscal discipline than the Republicans could ever hope to achieve, because they believe in fair tax rates that balance spending. And trust me, if there is any party that will make sense out of this war, it is the Democratic Party.

Still don’t believe me? Then go watch the news. Watch Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democratic leaders talk about hope and change. Then watch John McCain and his Republicans push their policies of fear. Who do you think should be leading the land of the free and the home of the brave?