Winning the Future

"President Obama only talked about more spending in the State of the Union."

This is what Republicans heard and hear, when Democrats call for government to fulfill its purpose, by collecting taxes and providing services.  "This is just more tax and spend liberalism."  Republicans simply don't get that taxes = services.

Our infrastructure is crumbling beneath our economy.  Roads and bridges in disrepair cost drivers $290 billion every year to person and property.  The American Association of Engineers gave our transportation system a "D", and it is costing us daily.  We need here and now to spend money, to repair and upgrade our roads and railways, and in doing so we will save both time and money. With more  roads in better condition, we will all spend much less time in traffic and less money on fuel, and more time actually working.

The President called this our "Sputnick moment", an opportunity to build the future that times now demand.  This is the time for us to show our kids that science fairs are as important as sports championships.  This is our time to out build, out teach, and out innovate the rest of the world.  The time is now for us to create and embrace those better ways, to lead us all into better days.  We have to invest in a world better than this one.

To pay for this, instead of proposing tax increases, the President asked that we eliminate tax loopholes, that allow far too many to avoid paying their fair share.  He said that by eliminating these loopholes, we will be able to cut corporate taxes, and yet Conservative Talk World flatly called the State of the Union- "a call for more spending."

They missed, or outrightly ignored his call to re-organize and make government more efficient, by eliminating bureaucracy and waste.  The President said, "Let's do away with the programs we can honestly do without."  Before that he started with, "We have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in."  He even froze federal salaries and offered multiple cuts, even to his beloved community outreach programs, but Republicans heard none of it.

What I heard, is that we are wasting money, and that we can and must do better..."We can't win the future with a government of the past."

Mr. President, I agree.  We will not see better days without employing better ways.

The problem is that Republicans don't understand this, and have no faith in government to fulfill its purpose.