Parker: America Badly Needs Leadership

Star Parker

Townhall - As negotiations in Washington on this year’s budget (already halfway into the year that this budget is for) come to a head, the rumor mill points to a Washington-as-usual result. That is, split the differences down the middle. But, as King Solomon taught us, resolving a dispute by splitting the difference is not always a sign of virtue. Republicans want to cut $61 billion from a budget of almost $4 trillion with a deficit of $1.6 trillion. Current interest payments on the national debt, some $200 billion, dwarf these proposed cuts that Democrats are labeling “extremism.” From a purely political perspective, there are reasons to expect Republican feet to start turning to clay. First, Democrats and Republicans know that in the 1995 showdown that resulted in shutting down the government, Democrats and Bill Clinton came up the political winners.

Although circumstances are very different today from then, that history certainly looms large in political minds. Second, it’s a good bet that current polling gives pause to many Republicans. Polls show that although in the abstract Americans are concerned about the size of government and runaway spending and debt, when you get down to specific programs, there is little positive sentiment for making significant cuts in the big areas that would make a difference. And third, there is a critical difference today between the two parties. Ideological differences pose a much greater internal problem today to the Republican Party than to the Democrats. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Parker: America Badly Needs Leadership