Callous Conservatism

As a concept, compassionate conservatism--combining big tax cuts with big government spending--was always pure snake oil, something for nothing, too good to be true, trust fund politics. Once the wastrel W had blown away the surplus with wars of choice, lobbyist kickbacks, and smashed up cities, a reckoning had to come in the sober light of morning.

Well, it's morning in America and compassion is out, callousness is in. You see, those temporary tax cuts meant to jumpstart the 2001post-bubble economy now have to be made permanent to... What's their excuse this week? Oh right--to keep the economy strong. Who will pay for this strength? Future generations in the form of interest payments on the debt and the poor, the sick, the elderly, the disabled.

To cover the increase in military spending and homeland security, Bush's budget will cut billions from Medicare, Medicade, food stamps, local law enforcement, and disease control. As if this weren't bad enough, all of these savings will be wiped out by Social Security privatization, which W has snuck back into his budget.

America may be addicted to oil, but W is addicted to tax cuts for his rich base. It's time for the American people to perform an intervention before its too late. I suggest November 2006.