Hooray for deficits!

The Democrats, for the first time in forever, are suddenly worried that we’re running a deficit. When they had control of both houses of Congress, they constantly pooh-poohed Republican complaints about the deficit. Now, however, it seems to be a big deal to them.

Well, here’s one Republican that says that deficits are a good thing.

In the 1990’s the State of Minnesota had some pretty large budget surpluses. The Democrat controlled Congress, predictably, went on a spending spree that would have made your proverbial drunken sailor blush.

They had all the self-control of a kid (huh, there’s that word again) in a candy store with a pocket full of money.

In the 1990’s the size of the Government here doubled in under 10 years! When the recession started at the end of the Clinton Administration, they just kept right on spending and, eventually, left us with a $4.5 billion deficit that had to be cleaned up by our Republican governor who, predictably, was (and still is) called a “meanie” when he had to clean up the mess that the Democrats made.

I’m sure that it’ll come as no surprise that I nor anyone else in this state is getting double the service from our government. Except maybe the government unions.

Our former Governor, Jesse “the Mind is a Terrible Thing” Ventura, made a deal with the legislature wherein they gave us back 1/3 of the surplus (which of course we were taxed on the next year), the legislature took 1/3, and Jesse threw 1/3 at his pet projects.

I heard an analogy back then that I thought was either amusing or infuriating:

You go into your local convenience store and buy a Sludgie. The clerk charges you $100 for your 89 cent Sludgie. When you complain to the manager, he takes $33, gives the clerk who made the mistake in the first place $33 and gives you $33, minus the cost of the Sludgie. When you complain about that he tells you that you should feel lucky that you got that much!

Would you put up with that at a convenience store? No, you’d call the police and report the theft. So why do you put up with it from your government? That's exactly what they're doing: taking more than they need and when you ask for the remainder back, they sneer at you and call you greedy.

The fact is, they will spend every dollar that you give them and more. The only thing that keeps them in check at all is the fact that they know people may vote them out if the deficit gets too big. And when we’re running a surplus, every one of them bellies up to the trough and takes whatever he or she wants. They spend it so fast that you literally can't keep track of it all and, before you know it, it's gone.

Just like children, they thought that the good times would never end, so they spent it all and more. When the economy finally crashed, as was inevitable, they were so addicted to having all the money that they wanted that they couldn't (wouldn't) stop. Next thing ya know, we're $4.5 billion in the hole.

Then, when the grown-ups took charge and cut their allowance back, they whined like the babies they are.

I’ll take a deficit anytime.

- The Exile