Yesterday I wrote a piece for Politico, in which I wondered why a Republican senator like Tom Coburn would undermine the contrast between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney by caving to Democrat calls for tax increases. I wrote the piece out of sheer frustration: here was one of the erstwhile heroes of fiscal responsibility, undermining the movement he once championed just before a crucial presidential election. As someone who works hard every day to make sure we hold the line on government spending, Coburn’s cave felt like a betrayal. Someone had to say something, so I did.
And boy, did I get Coburn’s attention. Today, his Communications Director penned a response to my piece that dripped with D.C. arrogance, calling me inexperienced and my criticism a smear. Some might be intimidated by such a response, but to me it just clarified the problem.
Coburn is right to defend his record as a fiscal conservative. I did not criticize him because he is a tax-and-spend liberal, but because he has been a leader of our movement who is now abandoning the cause in our hour of need. I absolutely share his frustration with the slow, often backward, pace of change, but that does not excuse his giving up on the cause he was elected to champion.
The simple truth is this: with government debt capped, the only choices left are to cut spending or increase taxes. If we hold strong against new taxes, and if we make this election a referendum on that choice, we have the opportunity to realize the goal that generations of budget hawks have fought for. But by softening our position, Coburn has undercut that entire effort.
Like his past record on fiscal responsibility, Coburn’s stance against careerism in congress deserves its due credit. But, having had the foresight to know that someday all idealism will be bent to fit Washington’s purposes, Coburn has still become walking proof that even committed conservatives like himself eventually fold under the strain. Just look at his self-defense: he claims that he has never called for an increase in the tax rate, when what Americans want is a simplified, enforceable version of the tax code. While Washington tries to distract us with debates over the tax rate, my fellow patriots and I know that the loopholes and complexities in the tax code render the official tax rate nearly irrelevant for those who can afford the best accountants and lobbyists.
But Coburn has spent so much time in Washington that he doesn’t understand that Americans see past the political theater. And with a unique opportunity to reform the federal budget without raising taxes or adding debt, his indulgence in D.C.-style evasion is bad policy and bad politics. I’m saddened that Coburn doesn’t understand that politics in this country have changed for good, but I refuse to let him hold back the movement for fiscal sanity now that we are so close to unprecedented success.
What Mr. Coburn seems to have forgotten is that his job is to serve the people and not himself. He was sent to Washington to be a voice of the people and to persevere in the face of adversity. If he is no longer up to the task, he need only make his excuses and say goodbye. He is a voice of the people that elected him to REPRESENT them, not himself. The WILL of the people has been awakened and is gaining momentum. If he thinks he can let his frustration allow him to change his fiscal stance, he is wrong. He will not retain his job in the face of adversity come the next election cycle if he cannot do his job in the face of adversity in Washington. Only the Washington Elitist culture send replies calling people ignorant when they are in the wrong. Name calling, disdain, disrespect, and sarcasm are the weapons of the person who has no defense against charges laid upon their doorstep.
Do not forget that in all of this, it is OUR country that is at stake… not your job Mr. Coburn. Without this country, you have no job.
Exactly! And since our illustrious representatives balk at implementing term limits we will do it for them at the ballot box! “Career” politician is obscene! Somewhere in our founding documents it says “congress shall meet now and then”…NOT full time, NOT a career! It should be service just like the military. No perks, no prime healthcare plan, no lifetime pension, no exclusion from any laws, regulations, or bills they pass. No-one is outside the law! They need to get back to the private sector and be subject to the regulations they pass. Gee wouldn’t that make them think twice… oh, and maybe they’d read the bill before they vote on it. Wouldn’t that be a novelty!
Agree with Mr. Bente, but feel the problem illustrates a bigger problem of term limits. The issues of our elected officials coming to Washington and becoming professional bureaucrats is very real. Sen Lugar was an example of this, but there are many, many others. After a few election cycles members become players on the team, removed from real America or real Americans. I worked on the hill and saw it myself everyday. We simply must have more real Americans in our government to truly have representative government, or to control the runaway expansion of government. And the professional staffs are too large and not accountable to anyone. What Obamacare showed us was that the elected officials didn’t know anything about what they voted on! Only the staff read it and wrote it! Our government is shameful, wasteful and not representative. We seriously need to “throw all of them out”! There are a few good people in Congress, but they have been there, doing nothing, for too long. Let’s send them home and start over. I bet you that would get some attention.
I, too, have had less-than-satisfactory responses from Senator Coburn and/or his minions. Until the last few months, we from his home state have been very proud of his comments and efforts concerning government over-spending. However, from the moment he publicly stated his opinion that “Nancy Pelosi is a nice person,” we realized that that he was no longer among those few legislators who remain capable of separating the wheat from the chaff in DC. We need to return him to his practice of medicine in November 2012.
Senator Coburn has performed admirably. He supports the fair tax, which enacting that would quell this nonsense immediately. Show me one other senator that has identified wasteful spending such as Dr Coburn did in back in black, then maybe I’ll believe that Senator Coburn has forsaken the drive for financial stability. While I stand with the tea party on many issues, I have not seen the tea party come out and support the fair tax. What I have seen is support for a flat tax, a tax on prosperity rather than lifestyle. A resetting of our current tax code to it’s infancy, so that politicians can once again start carving out tax breaks and picking winners and losers. Instead of accusing a true conserative of undermining the cause of financial stability we should unite and support the fair tax which includes a balanced budget.
term limits must be brought to front and iniataed by the american taxpayer..elected officials have becomelife time taxpayer burdens..They have made a false group of aristocracts
TERM LIMITS are the best way to stop this run away Fed. government. Amen Kris.
Term limits AND benefits that only last while in office – just like the rest of Americans only receive benefits while they work for a certain company. Then, when they are no longer at that job, they find a new job with new benefits or have put in place a plan to provide for themselves. This lifetime benefit (not only for them, but for family members as well) is a perfect example of something that should be cut.
Agreed! term limits MUST be brought back, and NO extended benefits to family members or extended past your serving limit. Why should an elected politician be any different from an un-elected citizen after his term limit? Ridiculous! It is elitism!