Obama and the Budget Civil WarWASHINGTON -- Today, on the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, we're in the midst of another one. It's bloodless and less dramatic, but sparked by the same issue: the moral role and reach of the federal government.
This is a never-ending debate, one with roots that go back hundreds of years in our society. But it's more urgent now than it has been in decades.
There are two main reasons. The obvious one is that we are about as broke as the world's only superpower can afford to be. We have to make agonizing choices.
The other is that anti-government conservatives have been building to this moment for decades, and the defenders of Washington's role have preferred for most of those years to operate by stealth, by tactical retreats, and by shying away from debating the fundamentals.
Now they have no choice.
Republican Rep. Paul Ryan fired the fiscal equivalent of the first shot at Ft. Sumter. He has proposed sun-setting the modern capstone of American governmental commitment: Medicare, which, since 1965, has guaranteed taxpayer-funded health care to every American 65 and older. It looks like the GOP leadership is going to hope for the best and follow his lead and make the idea the centerpiece of their budget in the House.
I HOPE EVERY PERSON OVER THE AGE OF 65 WILL GET OUT AND VOTE FOR PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS IN 2012. MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR A REAL DEMOCRAT TO CHALLENGE OBAMA AND LET HIM KNOW THAT HE CAN BE PRIMARIED!!!!!