Seeing Both Sides of an Argument

When an argument takes place between two people, I've mostly felt that if I can understand each position well, in the end I can understand and empathize with both sides. The exception to this rule is when one side is not dealing honestly, which I find frustrating and disappointing when I learn that one side of the argument is distorting and lying about their position in a dishonest attempt to wring personal benefit.

Which brings me to my search for cogent arguments from the Democrat side of the budget arguments.

Reading several left-wing articles, I was unable to find an honest argument in favor of continuing annual trillion-and-a-half dollar deficits. The only cuts they are willing to embrace are in military spending, while the only other solution to deficit cutting is increasing taxes on "millionaires and billionaires".

Neither will succeed in solving the problem, and the so often repeated line about "millionaires and billionaires" is fundamentally dishonest. Obama's tax increases target everyone making over $200K, so last time I looked, 200 thousand is only 20 percent of a million. And if they really wanted to close tax loopholes so that companies such as General Electric would actually pay something other than zero on their multi-billion dollar profits, wouldn't they have already closed them in the tax code they themselves wrote the last 4 years? Meanwhile, GE is the poster child for the modern phenomenon called "Crony Capitalism".

The ideological position of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi Democrats is otherwise pretty clear. Socialism is the easiest way to summarize the ideology. It includes high tax rates designed to "level the playing field" by transferring wealth and narrowing the gap between rich and poor. It means shutting down "dirty" energy no matter how much it hurts average people. It means forcing people to cluster in the cities and give up their cars to ride government-subsidized mass transit to and from work (or the welfare office).

The only conclusion I can reach is that their ideology trumps everything else. Their sacred cows are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and now Obamacare, which must be protected at all costs. Even if those costs mean bankruptcy.

There is no middle ground in this argument. Either we adhere to founding principles of liberty or give in and become a fiefdom of Red China.

For me, that means there can be no compromise on these issues. If we fail to stop the outrageous spending and regulation of Obama and company, we lose everything. I'm not worried for myself so much as for my children and future grandchildren, who will never know the faith, freedom, and prosperity of America that I got to experience.