The Hypocrisy Of Republicans

"When the Democrats are in power, Republicans appear to be the conservative party. But when Republicans are in power, it seems there is no conservative party." ~ Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)

When Senator Rand Paul stood up on the floor of the United States Senate on Thursday and went on a long tirade pointing out the amount of wasteful spending of taxpayer money you knew he would catch the ire of many of his colleagues. He was called a showman and a brash carnival barker who is the "perennial annoying gadfly" in Washington. All that may be true, but the one thing Mr. Paul is more than anything else, is honest. More often than not you get lip service from the career politicians roaming the corridors of the Capitol. It's rather refreshing to hear an honest voice speaking up and calling out the hypocrisy in Washington.

The common drumbeat of the Republicans throughout the Obama years was that we needed to come out and vote for them to give them control of the House, the Senate, and the White House. The conservative voters did just that and yet we continue to get taken to the cleaners by the smooth-talking Republicans who come home to their respective districts and shout how they are staunch fiscal conservatives who believe in cutting spending. They claim they are for smaller government and a balanced budget. When the rubber meets the road though, they are no better than their Democrat colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

President George W. Bush doubled the national debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion in his eight years in office. Then enter the tax and spend policies of President Obama and the debt doubled yet again from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in his eight years. We are on track to exceed $30 trillion in the next seven years or so. At what point do we put on the brakes and say, "WHOA!"? We already know that the Democrats don't care about the growing debt and are the party of big-government. They are at least honest about being tax and spend liberals. The hypocrisy is on the Republican side. The Republican Party platform states they are for smaller government and a balanced budget. Oh they are when they are in the minority and can't be in control of governing. But they lack any spine when they have control of Congress and the White House.

So the charade continues. The politicians keep passing continuing resolution after continuing resolution to raise the debt ceiling. Even that has become a farce. It used to be they would set a dollar amount for the debt ceiling. Now it has become nothing but a credit card with no limit on the card. This is your government out of control.

What Rand Paul eloquently highlighted on Thursday is that the government can't control itself. On one side, the Republicans pass a tax bill to lower taxes on businesses and individuals. That isn't a problem as long as you work on cutting spending on the flip side. What they end up doing time and again is outstripping the prosperity. Those Republicans who voted for a tax cut and then turn around and voted for more government spending are showing the conservative voters they lack any real backbone. Conservatives need to remember that when these same politicians come back home looking for your votes. You might want to ask them if a $20 trillion debt makes the United States a stronger country or a weaker country? Then see how they answer you.