Thursday, February 10, 2011

GOP: Cut With A Meat Cleaver, Not A Scalpel!


GOP: Cut With A Meat Cleaver, Not A Scalpel!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Rumor has it that the GOP is looking to cut spending in Washington, DC. In fact, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., released a partial list of 70 spending cuts earlier this week. These particular cuts were included as part of the GOP's budget proposal for funding the government through the end of the fiscal year. (SOURCE)

It is troubling because the cuts to the EPA are entirely too small. The proposal calls for cutting EPA funding by only 1.6 billion dollars. That is not nearly enough to shut that agency down. In fact, that is chicken feed! Save some money and close their shop … for good.

Yes. I DID say shut the EPA down. In fact, I would be happy to see a bill introduced that would completely abolish the EPA and rid this country of its tyrannical tentacles. It has become a monster agency, a “star-chamber” sort of lawmaking body with a host of apparatchiks wielding their power like a battalion of schoolyard bullies. It is long past time for the EPA to be shut down and its headquarters padlocked.

The EPA is an agency gone wild. Like a rabid dog, it needs to be put down.

The same goes for the Department of Education. It is a shame.

Since the Department of Education was signed into law in October of 1979 by the legendary “dufus” President Jimmy Carter and began doing whatever the heck it does in May of 1980, education in the United States has shown no improvement. In fact, if anything at all, education has gotten worse.

Education should be left to the states. It should never have been placed in the hands of the federal government and the unions.

Americans have gone from being one of the best-educated countries in the world to one of the worse educated countries in the world under the Department of Education. That alone should qualify it for the dustbin of history.

Abolishing the Department of Education would save billions in wasted dollars. Get rid of it, pronto.

Then, there is the National Endowment for the Arts. Have you seen some of the “stuff” they underwrite with our taxpayer dollars? Forget it!

The proposed cut is only 2 million dollars. That is pathetic. We don’t need a National Endowment for the Arts. If a private organization wishes to fund artists, then fine. But spending taxpayer dollars on the pathos that passes for art these days is nigh onto criminal. The National Endowment for the Arts ought to be shuttered… immediately. Again, millions could be saved.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting should not get a single dime of taxpayer money. If the political left wants to have their broadcasting voice continue its operations, then they should fund it from their own pockets and not from the US treasury.

Don’t get me started on Amtrak. Amtrak has been sucking up taxpayer dollars from the public trough for far to long. A 224 million dollar cut from Amtrak is peanuts! Cut ALL funding to Amtrak. Sell it or trash it … but be done with it.

Americans drive and ride in cars. We take a train only when we have to, or are forced to do so. Otherwise, we stay the heck off them.

We are NOT a homogeneous people, like our Asian friends (and enemies). Americans are uncomfortable on trains, no matter how fast they travel. The President ought to know this and stop proposing “investment” in those super fast, high speed, trains. It will only be more taxpayer money wasted because Americans are STILL NOT GOING TO RIDE THE DARNED THINGS!

Get rid of the Department of Homeland Security. Even its name sounds like some 1930’s Nazi organization. The American people hate it.

There is no reason why the job the Department of Homeland Security is supposed to do could not be handled by the FBI and the CIA. Get rid of it. Billions could be saved.

As I looked over some of the proposed cuts, it struck me that the GOP is using a scalpel to make these cuts when they ought to be using a meat cleaver!

Look, we sent the new House of Representatives to DC to be a bludgeon! This pussyfooting around with insignificant cuts just isn’t going to get it done.

If this sort of limp-wristed action by the GOP continues, they should prepare for a very short stay in DC. In fact, they’d be ill advised to sign any sort of long-term lease on an apartment. The paint will barely be dry before they are packing for the trip back home.

America is flooded with red ink and instead of using a sump pump the GOP is using a drinking straw.

Desperate times require desperate measures. America’s economy is desperate. NOW is the time to act -- and act boldly.

J. D. Longstreet

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