There is no Fiscal Cliff!
Deciding who pays for war debt is the real problem!
Fiscal Cliff is a particularly inappropriate and ultimately useless metaphor for the the US debt crisis. For starters the crisis is man made. The specific men who should get most credit for creating our current crisis are George Bush and his self-righteous enablers. Dick Cheney famously declared that deficits don't matter.
Cheney meant that running up gargantuan debts didn't have political consequences in his experience. That type of political rationalization is the problem. Fighting expensive, elective wars and leaving it to future generations to pay for them is immoral. Dick Cheney made a political calculation about what he could get away with and made it happen. Despite his assertion, there was a huge political price to be paid both by Cheney and by Republicans following his sorry example.
Republican fiscal sabotage goes well beyond war funding. The Bush administration made it illegal for the federal government to negotiate drug prices paid by Medicare. They also forced the Post Office to over-fund it's pension program. Both of these were deliberate attempts to fatten up well functioning public services so that they could be replaced by privately funded alternatives. Both schemes are still in force today despite the unmistakeable message sent by the electorate on November 6.
Republicans had been counting on a disengaged, short-attention span electorate who would not connect the dots and blame the Republican instigators of the problem. So far that strategy has been a miserable failure. We all need to be sure that this flavor of anti-populism is contained within the dystopic fantasy world of right wing think tanks.
Fortunately for all of us, President Obama is masterful in playing the long game. That strategy won him the White House a second time, strengthened Democratic power in the Senate and weakened Republican mischief potential in the House. The Supreme Court will likely swing in a more populist direction as well.
If we're going to choose a metaphor, let's talk about the Amercian Bus ending up in the ditch. That image was first invoked by President Obama during the 2008 campaign. When the bus is in the ditch there are only so many ways to get it out.
Like the passengers in that metaphorical bus, all Americans are riding through our crisis together. The burden of getting out has not been shared equitably. Going forward the burden must be shared. We currently have record corporate profits and historically low American wages. Raising taxes on wealthy folks is what most Americans want. Now is the time for the President to put his vision in gear.
Republicans can make this crisis better in the short run or they can obstinately stick to their guns. They will do so at their own peril. It is now gut check time for American Democracy. Having defeated the candidate of privilege it is now time to take back the country. I'm confident we can get the bus out of the ditch if we all sacrifice to make it happen.
