No justification for this much debt

Recently, I overheard a friend of mine talking to his daughter about a school project that was due soon. The exchange was all too familiar.

“Most people haven’t even started theirs yet, Dad. You should be glad that I am at least doing something.”
“I’m not raising ‘people,’” he said. “I am raising you.”

The daughter’s justification for her actions (or lack of) reminded me of some of our elected officials in Washington when talking about the trillions of dollars of debt they have approved.

Their justification: The Bush administration did it too.

It would be too easy to point out the fallacy in trying to compare the deficit spending to fight two wars and he recent “stimulus” spending. In fact that point makes itself.

That being said, justification of today’s spending by comparing it to a previous administration’s spending is asinine. “George Bush put us in debt, so we are going to put us further in debt.”

Last week’s anti-tax and spend tea parties were a direct result of such thinking and justification. While some tried to paint it as “angry rich folks and corporations,” unbiased observers saw it for the grassroots outcry it was.

People don’t want to see their kids and grandkids hamstrung with debt. They don’t want the next generation to be the first that does economically worse than their predecessors.

The Democrat-controlled Congress and the White House are on a fast track to bankruptcy if things don’t change. Bailouts and entitlements are not the way to bring back this nation to economic greatness.

The Bible says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7 NIV)

Regardless of your professed faith (or lack of) there is an undeniable truth in that passage. Anyone who has been harassed by bill collectors knows they are slaves to their debts. Every paycheck seems to be eaten up by debt service.

Just imagine what our nation could accomplish if it were debt free? We indeed are becoming slaves to our national debt.

It is time for the electorate to become like the father who refuses to accept his child’s justifications. We need to remind our elected officials across this nation — both Republicans and Democrats — that we are not looking at what the Bush administration did. We are looking at what they are doing now. And we will hold them accountable.

America abolished slavery more than a century ago. Why in the world would we accept economic slavery now?