To the Readers' Forum:
Recently, on Fox News, I heard one of the popular talk show hosts challenge his audience with this question: "I challenge anyone listening to give me one, just one reason, why we can't go back to the same spending as during the JKF years. Just one reason ... I challenge anyone".
This challenge was so naive that I at first thought he was joking, but indeed he was very serious. Well, I'd like to take him up on the challenge. In 1961, when John Kennedy took office, there was approximately 185 million people in the U.S. Today, there is 315 million people. Our country has almost doubled in size. Doubled. So, it appears that there is not only one reason we can't go back to that same spending, but actually about 140 million reasons.
When I first heard this challenge, I thought that it was just a mistake, and that most conservatives can not be this naive. Alas, today, I heard a local pastor make the claim that we should go back to the same spending as the Clinton years. Well, again, when Clinton took office our country had approximately 255 million people. Today, 315 million. So, it seems there are 60 million reasons we can't go back to Clinton year spending.
Folks, our country is growing fast, so spending of yesteryear won't happen. Of course we should keep spending down as much as appropriate, but pretending we can go back in time is illogical. We have a fiscal cliff coming up, and we need to avoid it. The Obama administration has proposed a tax hike on the richest 2 percent, as well as spending cuts, to avoid the cliff. The Republican House has said 'no', but hasn't really given us any alternatives. Maybe they will ask us to go back to Lincoln type spending (when we had less than 40 million people). Lets be realistic folks, we need to compromise. And fast.
William Raynor
Jamestown