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Politics & Government

Was it Hair Pulling, Eye Gouging, Stripping Away Clothes in the Dark?

During the wee hours of the morning in the dark, senators decided to raise taxes and not cut spending.

Hair pulling, eye gouging, stripping away clothes, and headlocks sound like an unruly crowd at an after Christmas sale of retro tennis shoes. It could be a college or NFL game being played before millions of people or RAW wrestling.

Someone also reminded me the above list of assaults could be what happens in a prison riot. With the picture of that image firmly placed in our minds, we are now being lead to believe that is what happened as Congress was working behind closed doors to come up with their so-called solution to the terrible thing that was to happen if we suddenly and without warning found our nation being thrust over that dramatic “fiscal cliff.”

During the wee hours of the morning in the dark, senators (elected to represent and serve the people of the United States of America) decided they had no other choice but to raise taxes and not cut spending. Public statements aside, this drama demanding our attention in the last hours of the year just past did not suddenly appear. We have known for months, even years, we have no budget by which to operate the government. We are borrowing more money than we can ever repay from any country that will loan to us. This drama that was forced on the American people had reached a conclusion on the night of Nov. 6, 2012. That was the night the voters returned Obama and his administration to office. With the four year record of no budget and increased spending, the thought of why some people were under the impression that the next four years would be different escapes me.

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It is my experience when we hear the winners of an election talk with the losers of the election and use the word compromise, there is certainty they are saying, “Sit down, shut up, and do as you are told.” That type of language might be shocking to some people, but that seems to be the way things roll in the political world. Once, in our state, winners said to losers, “Cry me a river,” as the losers were trying to get the winners to work in a nonpartisan way to accomplish success in a project for the good of all the citizens.

It did not happen then, and will not happen now.

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We are hearing that conservatives caved. It is true that some people who want us to believe they are conservative voted to support the plan put forward by the liberals. It is also true, real conservatives did not cave, surrender or give up. They voted no on the largest tax increase in our history. At the end of the vote there were too many others, however, that voted yes.

From where I stand, the drama of the new year’s wrangling and vote might lead all of us to hair pulling, eye gouging and clothes stripping before the end of the second term of the current administration.

Do you agree with the vote of Congress in the dark of night? Tell us in comments. 

Follow Ray Newman on Twitter — @RayNewmanSr.

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