THE VIEW FROM HERE

Henry David Thoreau said “It takes two to speak the truth-one to
speak another to listen.” It will be interesting to observe if the
newly formed joint select committee or “super committee,” as it has
been dubbed, is any better at conflict resolution than its three
predecessors.
I felt that a report in the August 13th issue of the Economist
gave us some hope that at least a fair proportion of voters were
listening. They said, “While the politicians apportion blame voters
are drawing their own conclusions.” The New York Times poll showed
81 percent disapproved of how congress was doing its job.
Seventy-two percent disapproved of how Republicans handled
negotiations and 66 percent disapproved of the Democrats. President
Obama received a 47 percent disapproval rate. “More than four out
of five thought the debt ceiling debate had more to do with the
parties seeking political advantage than with doing what was right
for the country” according to the Times poll.
The new committee has to find some way to slash $1.5 trillion
from the deficit in the next decade. There are twelve members of
the committee, drawn equally from the two parties, the house and
the senate.
Some reporters are concerned about the members of the committee
because of their past and present associations or positions. For
example: One Democratic member is head of her party’s Senate
re-election campaign; one of the Republicans is a former head of
the Club for Growth, a hostile anti-tax group; four of the 12 sat
on the Erskine-Simpson bipartisan committee and all four of them
opposed the “Grand Bargain” of sweeping spending cuts and revenue
raising tax reform, according to the Economist article.
We can only wait and see if the committee members can tackle our
current deficit problems in good faith or if it is more of the same
political posturing. A member of the committee, Chris Van Hollen,
democrat, thinks the committee may exceed these dire predications
because if they don’t agree or congress rejects their plan then
$1.2 trillion in spending cuts goes into effect automatically
beginning in 2013.
Most people’s lives are so taken up with day to day living and
obligations that we tend to forget the facts concerning our huge
deficit. According to a column by Lori Montgomery in the Washington
Post, back in 2001 our government was running a surplus and
forecasters were predicting we could pay back all the money we had
borrowed. President George W. Bush elected not to use the surplus
to cut back the debt or fix Social Security but instead to push
through two massive tax cuts saying, “The surplus is the people’s
money.”
George Bush and Congress then financed two wars, expanded
defense and domestic spending and instituted a prescription benefit
program. All in all the Congressional Budget Office statistics show
Bush’s policies account for more than $7 trillion of our
accumulated debt.
If we want to elect people who truly have our best interest it
is our responsibility not only to listen for the truth but get our
facts right about the past.
Lucie Jensen is a Healdsburg resident.