by Norm Leahy
There has been and will be a great deal of finger pointing in the wake of the S&P downgrade of the federal government’s debt. But there’s an old saying, or maybe it was just a Dire Straits lyric — when you point your finger ’cause your plan fell through, you got three more fingers pointin’ back at you. That applies quite nicely to the debt debate.
Republicans who scream that it’s all the Democrats fault for spending like mad hatters ignore or explain-away the spending excesses of the Bush years. Democrats who wail and gnash their teeth at Republicans who refused to raise taxes forget that under their watch, federal deficits and debt have piled up far faster than they did during the entire Bush tenure.
This back-and-forth, as cathartic as it is for some, solves nothing. The debt deal that managed to pass congress was their best effort — and the markets and ratings agencies have said it wasn’t good enough. But it was all that could have been expected given the political divide in government, some will charge. Perhaps. But what is the source of that divide?
You and me. Or at least the you and me who vote. We put people in power who do what we want them to do, whether it’s fight like crazed bobcats against taxes or mount furious charges to expand the size of government. There are precious few Edmund Burkes in Washington, voting their consciences and beliefs over the needs and wants of their constituents. What we are left with, then, are reflections of ourselves. And its not a pretty sight.
Back in 2007, I wrote a piece for the old Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine about irrational voters, a concept George Mason University Prof. Bryan Caplan advanced in his book of the same name. He discussed how our inherent biases lead us to believe things that simply aren’t true. and when we take those biases into the voting booth, “…socially injurious policies win by popular demand.”
Sift through the stinking mass that is the federal debt, and you’ll find receipts for all sorts of ill-considered ideas, policies and programs. And each of them was put there because we, through our representatives, demanded it.
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