Will Republican Debt Solution Target Public Workers and the Poor?

One thing is certain. Republicans are not standing still on or ignoring their long-time pet issues.

It's no accident we're hearing nothing much, in the spending cuts discussion,

about cuts to the $1 trillion annual expenditure on "National Security" in the U.S.--almost as much as is spent on that collective by the rest of the world COMBINED. Yes, we've heard a bit about cuts to national defense, but, again, not much and have heard nothing about the rest of the five: homeland security, nation building, foreign aid designed to gain the cooperation of other countries, and veterans affairs. It's our foreign policy that causes the huge expenditure--maintaining a presence everywhere in the world, undertaking interventions and even wars here and there, and, through obvious support of Israel, assuring that we remain a target of terrorism. Expensive stuff that could and should be closely and openly investigated for spending cuts. But, no, there is huge pressure from military contractors, the military itself, and from representatives and senators in states where big jobs are involved NOT to cut.

A trillion dollars a year--almost as much as our present annual deficit--largely safe from cuts of REAL consequence.

So, is it any wonder Republicans especially are seeing Social Security, Medicare, and whatever constitutes the safety net for just plain folks as a good fat target for cuts? The costly game of world dominance is safe, relatively, from big cuts thanks to the same people who want collective bargaining rights thrown in the hopper while cutting spending around the country and in the federal government. Real people folks, these. "Entitlements, which they've long been after, on the cutting table, the $1 trillion for "National Security" off it except for token moves. Their talk of "Nanny government" and Socialism has spooked enough people that they think themselves free to go on fooling enough of the people enough of the time.

Making public sector unionized employees a culprit for our fiscal woes, instead of just saying they too will have to take cuts and leaving the later issue of collective bargaining rights out of it, is part of Republicans' strategy. Dragging collective bargaining rights into the arena now could backfire, but remember that the cutting of spending has to look like just plain folks' fault and not also the fault of bloated National Security spending. Those dreaded "entitlements" are just plain folks' fault too--their social safety net far and away a burden if $1 trillion is to be preserved for National Security--and should be prime targets for the cutting block.

Yes, I said it. This biggest debtor nation in the world prefers to be the world's hegemon to taking care of its own, prefers not to pare excessive National Security spending as aggressively as other areas of spending, prefers to ignore reality. When do we plan to act like we can't afford the self-appointed role of world's policeman?

Ron W. Smith of UT 2:25PM February 24, 2011