Election year enters final stretch

Sunday, August 11, 1996

Democrats favor deficit reduction without cuts in welfare,
entitlements

By Tristen Sotomayor

The choice Americans face in this presidential election year is
a clear one. It is simply a question of priorities, and will go a
long way in determining what kind of country we are and in what
direction we want to move.

One of the main goals for the Democrats is to balance the budget
which spiraled out of control during the Republican administrations
of Reagan and Bush. However, the major disagreement between the two
parties on how to achieve this goal reflects the fundamental
difference between what congressional Republicans and the American
people believe to be important. The Democratic Party wants to
balance the budget without raising taxes on middle-income families
or on the working poor, and without cutting vital programs such as
education or environmental protection. By contrast, the
Republicans’ plans put the burden on those least able to defend
themselves: the elderly, the poor and students like us.

When President Clinton proposed a 1993 federal budget which
entailed an increase in income tax on the richest 1 percent of the
population, Republicans in Congress predicted that Clinton’s
reversal of trickle-down economics would lead to a fatal drop in
investment and a reduction in national savings. They said it would
prevent businesses from starting and jobs from being created
without adding any revenues to our economy. The result of Clinton’s
tax policy was an increase in investment of 18 percent a year, an
increase in national savings of 18 percent, 1.2 million new
businesses, over 6 million new jobs and an increase in revenues of
more than 13 percent.

What is the alternative to the Republican Party? The same
policies which clearly failed before President Clinton took office.
Indeed, the Republican leadership’s economic plan is as extreme as
their social agenda. Plainly and simply, the Republican tax
policies of the 1980s led to all the economic problems which were
reversed by President Clinton. Those who were responsible for
creating the economic mess President Clinton fixed now want to be
given the Presidency again. Talk about giving the village drunk the
keys to the liquor cabinet.

The Republican Party’s steadfastness in their defense of
trickle-down economics shows how little they have grown as a party
of ideas and how incapable they are in telling the truth to the
American people. This has been displayed in no better area than the
balanced budget debate. Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich and the Republican
majority in Congress claim they have represented the values of
America during the repeated government shutdowns. Does balancing
the budget squarely on the backs of those who can least afford it
represent the values of our country?

Medicare, which pays for doctor’s fees, hospital stays and home
health care for the elderly and disabled, has been on the
Republicans’ hit list for over 30 years. Before Medicare was
enacted in 1965, more than half of our country’s senior citizens
had no health insurance. Today, according to the American Medical
Association, 99 percent of America’s senior citizens are protected
by Medicare. The Republican Party claims that Medicare is an
example of "wasteful government spending" and "more bureaucracy,"
despite the fact that the AMA reports less money spent on overhead
with Medicare than with private health plans. President Clinton
refused to sign this year’s extremist Dole-Gingrich budget, which
called for the most drastic cuts (over $270 billion ) in Medicare
in its history. In addition, if the Republicans had their way,
Social Security would have also suffered deep cuts, despite the
fact that it has contributed to a dramatic decrease in poverty
among older Americans in the past 30 years. The conservative excuse
for these actions lies in the predictable line of "less intrusive
government." This from a party which would not allow abortion
rights to even be mentioned in their national convention’s
platform.

President Clinton’s steadfastness against these Republican
assaults on the things we value has once again proven that the
Democratic Party is the party of social conscience, fiscal
responsibility, increased access to higher education and
environmental protection. The choice is clear for all of us. We
must choose the policies which have led to this nation’s economic
rebound in the last three and a half years, and which champions
rational solutions to common problems over extremism and fear. We
must choose Clinton over Dole in November and ensure that
conservative Republicans in Congress can never endanger our
educations, our futures or the futures of families like ours ever
again.

Tristen Sotomayor is president emeritus of Bruin Democrats.

The Republican Party’s steadfastness in their defense of
trickle-down economics shows how little they have grown as a party
of ideas…