American Politics Journal -- GOP? Fiscal Responsibility?

GOP? Fiscal Responsibility?
Don't Make Me Laugh
By Tamara Baker

Monday, Dec. 25, 2000 -- SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA (AmpolNS) -- I've always known that the GOP has never been 'the party of fiscal responsibility' during MY lifetime, but I never knew that their spendthrift ways were centuries old.

According to a 1992 book entitled Of The People: The 200-Year History of the Democratic Party, the Revolutionary War had left American finances so parlous that it looked as if the new nation would default on its debts, many of which were held as bonds by average people. People sold their bonds to financiers at 10 cents on the dollar. Then, during Democrat Thomas Jefferson's administration, proto-Republican Alexander Hamilton pushed through an agreement that the nation would not default. Jefferson, who was no economist, stupidly agreed. The next years were spent not on building the new nation, as they should have been, but in paying off debt. In many ways, Jefferson's presidency was wasted, just as William Jefferson Clinton's has been, because of the malicious interference of his political enemies.

Even so, Jefferson's announced goal was to retire the debt by 1817, and he very nearly made it. If the British had not burned the Capitol and the White House during the War of 1812, the debt would have been retired on time.

For a few years, the forerunners of the GOP won some elections. During those years, the debt remained. (Sound familiar?)

In 1824, General Andrew Jackson ("Old Hickory"), a Federalist Democrat, won the popular vote, but lost in the Electoral College to John Quincy Adams. (Sound familiar?)

In 1828, riding on the tide of an incredible wave of voters still angry over the fraudulent election of 1824, Old Hickory made it to the White House and in 1835, he reported that the National Debt was paid in full, in the 58th year of the nation.

Of course, it didn't stay that way.

Republicans only believe in fiscal responsibility to the extent that it means they get paid.

Departing from politics for a moment, I want to send thank-yous and apologies to all the folks who have contacted me over the last few months.

Time and other constraints have kept me from being able to thank you in person, or even with an e-mail, so I would like to send you this great big group hug right now: HUG!

I also would like to send a big hug and thank-you to BartCop, the guy who has been Reich Limbo's Nemesis (and I mean that in the original Greek sense of the word) for dog years now. A Salute to Knuckledrag, Oklahoma's finest son: HUG!

And I would be remiss if I didn't give a big hug and thank-you to Mike Malloy (http://www.mikemalloy.net), Defender of Truth, Justice and the American Way, from his 'Minneapolis Bureau Chief': HUG!

And last but not least, I must give thanks for the information in this column RE: Republican Fiscal Wastrelism to a man whom I can only identify as the New Mexican Wonder: HUG!

Happy Holidays to Everyone!