Day of reckoning for GOP deficits

In response to Bob Lowth (Fence Post, June 22), there is no misunderstanding on my part about the functions of the executive and the legislative branches of the federal government.

What you explained was how the government is supposed to work.

What I explained was how the government is working, or more to the point, how the government is not working.

Starting in the 1980s, the Democratic majorities in Congress vacated their fiscal responsibilities and sensibilities while giving in to Ronald Reagan with increasing and alarming frequency.

It is common knowledgeˆ  the federal debt was $800 billion in 1981 and when the Reagan/Bush era finally ended in 1993, the federal debt was $4 trillion.

When Clinton left in 2001, the debt was $5.7 trillion.

And now with the younger Bush spending like there is no tomorrow, the federal debt is approaching $10 trillion.

Remember it was Dick Cheney, in one of his many infamous statements, who said "Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don't matter."

Well, deficits do matter.

But the Republican majorities in Congress through 2006 rubber-stamped everything that Bush/Cheney wanted.

With the current Democratic majority, it's rather obvious that little is being accomplished since the Republican minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, has been stonewalling Senate Democrats by using the filibuster an amazing 76 times in only 17 months.

The Senate Democrats should have filibustered with such frequency through 2006.

Newt Gingrich ignored Bill Clinton? Talk about revising history! Clinton pushed through, on a party-line vote, what is considered the largest tax increase in history in 1993 to reverse the mess left from 12 years of Reagan/Bush.

And the economy took off, which perpetuated a strong dollar.

Clinton along with the Democratic majority in Congress, through the 1994 elections, were well on their way to eliminating the budget deficits before Gingrich became speaker in 1995.

And now you are trying to tell us that the Democrats were into deficit spending going back to 1956? You must be kidding.

But at least you and I agree that someday everyone will pay for this folly.

Unfortunately, that "someday" is occurring now as we are paying in the form of a currency, which is losing its value along with our decreasing purchasing power.

Kevin Martin

Schaumburg