Tea party, GOP hold us hostage

It is one thing for a newly-elected representative to arrive in Congress with a grand vision for improving the nation, but it is quite another when they arrive with a narrow, shortsighted, ideological agenda that threatens to derail the nation’s economy.

The Tea Party Caucus and many of the Republicans up for re-election and threatened by the tea party’s aggressive tactics — are holding the nation hostage to their demands for radical and abrupt cuts in government spending.

Essentially they are saying: Allow us to destroy the government-supported agencies and institutions that we despise, or we will shut down the entire government. They have rejected more reasonable across-the-board spending cuts.

There is no doubt that in coming years we must make substantial sacrifices to strengthen our economy, but we are not going to achieve that goal by gutting the comparatively minuscule discretionary spending portion of the federal budget. Such actions also threaten to throw hundreds of thousands of people out of work and stall the fragile economic recovery.

Further, the doomsday tactics used by those on the right to suggest that the economy is in imminent danger of collapse are reprehensible. Clearly there is a need for action, but not for panic.

If Congress had the courage to shift its focus to reforming entitlements in a bipartisan manner, much of the economic angst we are experiencing could be eased. Such ideas means testing and increasing retirement age for Medicare and Social Security must be considered, and both sides in the debate must be willing to compromise. As long as the air of extremism permeates Washington, the longer it will take to resolve the problem.

Have you ever called your Congressman? Now might be a good time.

William S. Hicks

Carpentersville