The great GOP divide

The great GOP divide

A battle for the soul of the Republican Party is brewing over the issue of government spending. At the national level, Republicans have just pushed through the biggest government entitlement program in 40 years. In California, however, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to take the offensive against government spending. Sometime soon, Republicans need to choose between these two conflicting visions and define their beliefs about the size of government.

Republicans in Washington have declared their views by spending as much as necessary to win the next election. To take away a campaign issue from Democrats, Republicans enacted a nearly half-trillion-dollar Medicare drug-benefit program. Overall, the new program, although it has a couple of good aspects, doesn't make sense for health care, let alone for fiscal policy.

It's true that 24 percent of seniors have no prescription drug coverage and 5 percent have annual out-of-pocket prescription costs of more than $4,000. However, the just-enacted legislation doesn't target these subgroups, instead giving a universal government-subsidized drug benefit to every senior in the country.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., one of the few GOP lawmakers to vote against the bill, observed, "While the need for some type of benefit is real, the need for a universal benefit is not." The Republican leadership, though, wanted to pass the bill at any cost.

Putting profligacy and politics above principle has been a disturbing trend under Republican rule in Washington, D.C. With Republicans controlling the legislative and executive branches, the federal budget has grown by 27 percent the past two years. "We Republicans seem to have forgotten who we are and why voters sent us here," Pence laments.

<SNIP>

http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=73368§ion=COMMENTARY&subsection=CALIFORNIA_FOCUS&year=2003&month=12&day=27

Freepers' commentary on article.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1047472/posts

In Bushbotville, in the magical kingdom of Bushbotland, the residents have justification for all sorts of things.

It seems that only a few are facing reality about their spend-spend masters, the rest are just bent down with their asses hanging out saying "Thank you, sir ... may I have another?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=114561

someone using the same name???