Marble Composition

Trust me, your kids will pay for this...

By now, the idea that the GOP is the party of "fiscal responsibilty" should be shoveled permanently into the dustbin of history. The evidence is in, and it's now obvious: The Republican party could not care less about the fiscal solvency of the United States. Scott Horton examines the intersection of media affiliation and sound fiscal policy, here. Note also that there is, and should be, a moral compact here. Are we really willing to sit by while we shovel all this debt onto our children and grandchildren? It represents gross irresponsibilty.

A war is waged. And then another. And then a proxy war or two or three. But under George W. Bush, war entails no sacrifice for the people. Why if it did, the people might actually awaken from their stupor and ask questions about the war. James Madison was adamant, and he was joined on this by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington—each generation must bear the costs of its own wars. It is the gravest irresponsibility to incur long-term debt to fight wars, mortgaging the nation’s future, casting manacles for the coming generations to wear. The Founding Fathers understood a fundamental principle: the moral obligation of those who rule to those who will follow in their wake.

And if there is one single fault of the Bush-Cheney Administration that will haunt it beyond all the others, then it is this: they recognize no duty to posterity. They consume and squander shamelessly. And they mortgage the nation’s future in the process.

Their fiscal conduct matches perfectly their irresponsibility on the premier science issue of our generation: global warming. They repudiated the Kyoto Accords. And in its wake they offered not leadership for the global community, but blissful sleep. Forget about it, they said, this is all a bunch of environmental crazies. And they introduced the new Lysenkoism—pseudoscience that replaced serious science, especially when issues of global warming and profligate consumption of hydrocarbons were on the agenda. Real scientists were ordered to be silent or be fired. Young political hacks were installed within the science agencies as their new voice. The Bush Administration has been the very model of moral irresponsibility.

posted by FuzzFinger @ 12/18/2007 09:48:00 PM