Tea partyers holding the process hostage

There’s no one worse than a reformed drunk. Having spent a long time swimming in a bottle of gin, he will tell you all the evils of drink and why you should never touch the stuff.

Likewise the Republicans and debt. Under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush the national debt skyrocketed while lax enforcement of sound fiscal regulations led to the crash of 2008. President Obama inherited a calamity that required massive government spending to stimulate the economy and preventing another Great Depression.

Now the Republicans would have us believe their same old snake oil — that they are the party of fiscal responsibility, even though their record is one of massive spending combined with massive tax cuts for their fat-cat friends, thus running up the national debt. And they want to blame it on Obama, who is working hard to create a balanced compromise of spending cuts and tax enhancements that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he will not accept.

Speaker of the House John Boehner is being held hostage by Eric Cantor and his tea party cronies. What a mess! If the country indeed defaults, Cantor and his Republican tea party pals, whose unreasonable intransigence have brought us to the brink, will be guilty of fiscal treason against the people of the United States.

Pete Trotter

Deerfield