Are Democrats really Tax and Spend?

The Republicans certainly showed us that they are all about spending this past decade.   At least they didn't raise taxes.  Now we have the Democrats in power and they have been spending voraciously.  Will they live up to the moniker Tax and Spend Democrats?

The CBO has announced that for fiscal year 2010 the deficit will be $1.35 trillion dollars.  The deficit in 2009 was $1.4 trillion and that is before corrections.  We are running seriously in the red and with difficulties in selling our paper to foreign investors we MUST do something about it.  The recent announcement to freeze non-security discretionary spending is a drop in the bucket.  We need to either cut defense or reduce mandatory spending - entitlements - or both.  Or we can raise taxes.

The conventional wisdom may be starting to say that the Dems will raise taxes.  It is too difficult to cut defense in this environment of being committed to Iraq and Afghanistan.   No way are Dems going to open the Pandora's Box of reducing entitlements - those are Democratic voters.   Of course, higher taxes will slow growth and recovery efforts.  I guess it depends on who will see their taxes go up.

Sigh.

As a Whig, I would like to see entitlements brought under control.  We have to do it and everyone knows it.  We cannot continue to operate with the steadily increasing costs of entitlements that slowly push aside our ability to do other things with the National Government.  We are being forced to consider defense reductions as a result.  Guns and butter.   Too much butter.  Many entitlements belong at the state level.   Let's move them there.