By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | I was once a Republican Georgia county commissioner. Then I served as the chair of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia’s Tax Committee.
I’m no longer a Republican. Here’s one reason why.
The GOP has become a fiscally irresponsible group. It does not believe in paying the debts that the Federal government has already incurred via spending already approved by the House and Senate and signed by this and past presidents, like Donald Trump. That’s what “raising the debt ceiling” means. It has nothing to do with future obligations. It relates simply to paying off what the government already owes for military and non-military expenditures.
The GOP has gone from a fiscally conservative (cost-benefit based) party to something quite different. It’s a party that simply does not want the wealthy and large corporations to pay as much taxes and develops its fiscal policies around that one aspect of budgeting.
And that leads them to want to cut programs which Americans want and love, like Social Security and Medicare. Of course, GOP political types do not use these words. They say- “entitlements are bankrupting the United States” or “entitlements are why we have a large deficit.” Per the Government Accounting office, entitlements means “payments of benefits to any person that meets the eligibility.
Say the words, GOP politicos!
I recently attended a Georgia Budget and Planning Institute conference where Democrat Bee Nguyen and Republican Brian Robinson debated budget issues. Both are very sharp but have diametrically opposed budgeting philosophies.
Robinson made statements consistent with those above, avoiding defining “entitlements.” This tactic is consistent with other GOP figures who have made similar statements. For example, a. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said- “Our main focus has got to be on nondiscretionary—it’s got to be on entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare.”
At least Florida Senator Rick Scott has said, “We’ve got to start being honest with the public that — what’s our plan? Medicare is going bankrupt; Social Security is going bankrupt.” But Scott’s stated solution under his plan is to review those programs for cuts every five years.
I also was once a top-level planning and budget person in government and industry for decades. To put it simply, a financial statement, whether for government, not-for-profit, or a business, has two key components, revenue (money coming in) and expenses (money going out), i.e., not just spending. Think about your own household budget. You don’t want to spend more than you bring in. If you want more things, you can get a better paying job or a second job to make more money. Or you can cut your wants and just address your needs.
The government is the same way. It can reduce expenditures and should when it comes to “pork” (such as airplanes for the Air Force Generals, weapons for the Army brass, or ships for the admirals.) But when services are valuable to the average retiree, like Social Security and Medicare, the solution may be to increase taxes on corporations. Or better still: reversing the tax cuts that Donald Trump and the GOP provided the wealthy in its 2017 give-away law.
Now you understand why I can no longer be a Republican.
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