Spending

All Americans should have the freedom to determine their own spending priorities.

Tax cuts and spending are not the same. They do not have the same effect on the economy or on the federal budget. Tax cuts allow American workers, families, business owners, and investors to keep more of their own money. New spending requires the government to take control of a bigger slice of the economy. We recognize the problem is not that the American people are taxed too little, but that the federal government spends too much. To ensure that the federal government respects the burdens on taxpayers and spends only as much as is necessary to accomplish our common goals, we support extending the pay-as-you-go requirement for mandatory spending only.

Given the liberals frequent mention of the $4 trillion national debt, it seems gravely irresponsible to propose billions and billions of dollars in NEW spending, on top of our already rapidly growing entitlement commitments. What is perhaps most unbelievable, is that liberals seem to think the American people will believe that they can pay for all new spending, pay for existing entitlement increases and balance the budget simply by increasing taxes slightly on the “very rich”.

Foreign Policy

The liberals’ foreign policy is an exercise in confusion. They say Iraq was a mistake from the get-go, yet also state that there can’t be a safe haven for terrorists. Which one is it? If they deny Iraq was a safe haven for terrorists, then how do they explain Abu Nadal’s shelter (he was for a time the most wanted terrorist in the world and worked out of an official Iraqi government office), or Abdul Yassin’s hiding? How can they explain Saddam’s shelter of the man who murdered Leon Klinghoffer? They cannot have it both ways.

Furthermore, the naiveté behind the liberal position is astounding. What is to be accomplished by meeting directly with murderous dictators without preconditions other than to validate them to their people? The dictators in Iran already know the stakes, they already know where the West stands, and so what is it that these meetings intend to accomplish? What compromise can there be?