Not that it should have anything to do with the price of tea in china…but I voted for Bush.
Voted for him last time too.
Who I or anyone voted for, should have nothing to do with a discussion about any issue. The reason I even write it is because of all the people who just assumed they knew who I voted for and that the point of the post was to bash the President. It’s not. It was discussion. Good old fashioned All American discussion about issues affecting our country.
I wasn’t suprised that in the discussions that ensued that people disagreed. That’s great. It makes us all smarter to have a discussion. I was caught a little off guard at how hateful some of the responses were.
The Issues
The underlying issueof the post wasn’t the Inauguration celebrations. The issues were runaway spending and lack of personal savings.
As a country, our politicians are spending taxpayer money, OUR money as if there is no limit to how big a deficit they can run. I happen to be someone who believes that it’s a problem.
In this country, as individuals, we are not saving money. There are some who believe that our individual savings rate could be negative going forward. (Meaning most people are spending more than they have and ending the year in more debt rather than with more savings)
That scares me.
These twoproblems are issues thatPresident Bushcanmitigate or even solve.
I voted for W because I felt he would be a stronger leader than Kerry could be. I’m not a supporter of everything he does, but that’s OK. There is no such thing as a perfect candidate for any office. In this country, for the office of the President, we don’t elect the best candidate. We elect the best of the candidates the parties offer us. I felt and still feel that W was the best of the candidates. One of his best qualities is his leadership ability. As the President, and as the person I voted for, I would like to see him exert that leadership ability in a way that could have a significant impact on resolving the two issues that I feel are our biggest economic concerns for this country. The deficit and personal savings.
IMHO, the best way to make a statement to our politicians that it’s time stop spending money we don’t have is to make a bold statement. The President announcing that he is cancelling or scaling back inauguration parties (yes, i think it’s ok to pay the obligations that are already in place to those planning and supporting the parties) because we have reached a point where have to watch every penny we spend, as a country and as individuals, is one way.I think it could have been the best way,to get the country and the world’s attention for this message. It would have led every media outlet and sent the message loud and clear. When the President sends a clear message that we can’t spend money we don’t have, I believeenough people to make adifference willlisten and follow the Presidents lead. That was the goal of the first post.
The fact that the inauguration party costs weremore thanthe amount of money that was committed to the Tsunami victims at the time I wrote the post created the opportunity to make the message louder and clearer. We are shifting dollars from a celebration to an important obligation.
Some might just believe that the President will get the job done in his own way. I obviously don’t think politicsas usual will get the job done. I don’t think we can legislate our way out of the huge deficits.
Left to their own devices, politicos will do what they always do, spend more money. That is the culture in our government today.The budget is trillions, I’m only asking for millions, so no one will notice and it’s so small, relatively speaking, it doesn’t matter.I would like to see the President take a bold step to change that culture
I think the government leads by example. I don’t think its an accident that our deficits have grown side by side with consumer debt. We have been fortunate that there have been years of lower interest rates to protect all of us. There are no assurances that rates stay low, and even if they do, the sheer size of ourcountry’s debt could overwhelm us.
I would love to seethe Presidentlead by example when it comes to spending, and savings in a way that sends the message loudly and clearly to all of us.
The inauguration parties were a way to do it. We have passed that point. I’m open to all suggestions.
This time, I will keep my ideas to myself.
For now.