Washington doesn't deserve a raise

Sen. Jim Demint, The Washington Times: Even though they failed to create jobs, stimulate the economy or make health care affordable, President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi want a raise.

Based on their recent voting record, it could be a $3.8 trillion raise. That's how much new money Washington will take from American workers and families over the next decade if all the Democratic tax increases are enacted next year. And despite being in control of Congress since 2007, Democrats have done nothing to stop any part of this tax explosion. Rather than admit they want to give the government a raise, the Democrats claim the government "can't afford" to keep taxes low. The truth is that Americans can't afford the European-style, socialist government the Democrats want to create.

After voting four times a few weeks ago to raise taxes on every American taxpayer, Democrats are facing the wrath of voters and scrambling to hide their record. Democrats claim they only want businesses and upper-income taxpayers to pay for their raise, but Americans have caught on to this class warfare, and they know every new tax on employers means more jobs will disappear.

Most people get raises for jobs well done. The Democrats want a tax raise because they haven't done their jobs. Instead of working to reduce the national debt, they've added trillions to it. To pay it down, they prefer to take another cut from Americans' paychecks rather than cut government spending.

This is how Washington thrives at America's expense. Remember how self-serving members of Congress got every pork-barrel project they ever wished for in Mr. Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill? That bill produced thousands of earmarks, but not jobs. The Obama administration and the Democratic Congress haven't solved any of the problems that led to the financial collapse. They've used the economic meltdown as an excuse to steer tax dollars to political allies, donors and pet projects with their bailouts and takeovers.

Such me-first thinking by people who, in the words of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, didn't want to "let a serious crisis to go waste" plunged the economic crisis that began in 2008 into a deep, long-lasting recession. Increasing taxes now would be like tying an anchor around the flailing economy's neck.

. . . . People who vote for incomprehensible bills shouldn't be given another $3.8 trillion to waste on their bad ideas. Increasing taxes will only fuel their out-of-control, big-government agendas.

Those who say we "can't afford" current tax rates care more about pumping up government programs than the prosperity of the American people. Citizen entrepreneurs, small-business owners and workers should not be forced to cut back on their plans in order to fund more spending programs dreamed up by Washington politicians and bureaucrats.

Spending is the problem, so cutting spending should be the solution. If there's anything that's unaffordable, it's the policies of Mr. Obama, Mr. Reid and Mrs. Pelosi. Given the high unemployment rate and record levels of debt and deficits, they certainly don't deserve a raise. [Full Article]

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