What Will the Democrats Do Now?

On September 9, 2009, in an address to a joint session of Congress, Barack Obama outlined his plan for Obamacare, aka The Affordable Care Act.  Obama boasted, “And we’ve estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system – a system that is currently full of waste and abuse.”  Ah yes, waste and abuse in government, what a novel concept.   Obama repeatedly emphasized the ACA would be financed in part by reducing inefficiencies, cutting waste, and combating fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.  Gee, why does that sound so familiar?  Meanwhile, when Obama made that statement the U.S. National Debt stood at $12,000,000,000,000.

Today, that figure is, $37,000,000,000,000, so perhaps a community organizer and the democrat senate (57-43) and House (257-178) at that time lacked either the skill or the will because whatever they did or didn’t do, the debt has tripled!

In the 1980s Ronald Reagan made the waste, abuse, and fraud in the federal government a major part of his broader argument for smaller government and believed that dozens of federal programs had outlived their usefulness and continued consuming taxpayer money without proper oversight.

And in his 1982 State of the Union address, he told the nation, “…we must act to control abuses and excesses of government.”  Reagan mocked the inefficiency of large government agencies, famously saying: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” while pushing for deregulation and privatization as ways to curb waste.

However, both the debt and deficit continued to grow during the Reagan administration in large part because the House of Representatives controls the purse strings of the government (According to the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 7,  all revenue-raising bills such as those related to taxes or government spending must originate in the House of Representatives.)  While the Senate can propose amendments to these bills, it is ultimately the House that holds the power to initiate and control government spending and funding.  And during Reagan’s time in office, the democrats had full control of the House and the nation’s purse strings.

In contrast, after the 1994 midterms, President Bill Clinton worked with a Republican-led Congress (led by Speaker Newt Gingrich) on a mix of spending cuts, tax reforms, and economic growth policies and the economy boomed, and by 1998, the U.S. had a budget surplus, which continued until 2001.  Proving the fiscal responsibility is possible in government provided there is the will and the leadership to make it happen.

Fast-forward to 2025 and Elon Musk’s DOGE team.  Musk was given legal authority under a presidential executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  As we know, Musk is tasked with identifying waste, abuse, and fraud, and considering the vagaries of election cycles the control of congress shifts, meaning we have new players and new agendas every two years, with predictable fiscal results.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that congress has repeatedly proven itself incapable of sustaining long-term checks on waste, abuse and fraud, yet the democrats have turned nineteen (19) of their attack-dog Attorneys-General to block DOGE in the courts, begging the question – Why would anyone want to put up roadblocks to eliminating the existing waste, abuse and fraud in our government?  What could possibly be their motivation?

What the Democrat Party is doing is the epitome of Trump Derangement System.  And no matter where you live, if you cup your ear and listen hard enough you can just make out the sound of democrats squealing about how Trump can’t circumvent congress.  Well, someone should break it to Schumer & Co. that Trump isn’t trying to circumvent congress – he wants an honest audit of the books, and then he wants those findings revealed to the American taxpayers.  I think the term is transparency.

Most if not all of the democrat lawsuits will wend their way into appellate courts where we’re likely to see mixed results.  At the same time however, we know the matter won’t really be settled until the Supreme Courts makes its rulings making it a matter of wait and see.

Nonetheless, at this point in time, it’s critical that Musk continue to expose the excesses and deception in government, such as the video featuring a Biden appointed EPA official arrogantly bragging about how they were “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” rushing to get billions of our tax dollars out the door before Inauguration Day.

The Democrat Party has a problem of its own making.  And it’s not rocket science to conclude that congress is incapable of putting its fiscal house in order.  So, working through congress to reduce the debt or even the deficit is a fool’s errand.  And since the republicans occupy the “commonsense lane” on America’s fiscal highway, the democrats are left with one of two choices; they can go on howling that Trump is violating the speed limit or admit that DOGE is a good thing for America. What do you think they’re going to do?

Quote of the day:  “It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.” — Thomas Jefferson