GOP: Balancing the leftist spin

This is in response to comments made by Chad Solsvik in his letter to the editor printed in the Coeur d'Alene Press on Sept. 29. Mr. Solsvik claims to "decode" some "Republican speak," wherein he offers his own translations of certain conservative agendas. Among the items on his list are the Bush tax cuts, which he decodes to mean: "Borrow $700 billion from China to give to billionaires."

I am always amazed at how progressives, particularly Democrats, view things like taxes. The underlying suggestion is of course the communist philosophy that all assets ultimately come from (and belong to) the government, rather than being earned/created by ambitious, risk-taking, creative and enterprising individuals, or generated by productive businesses in a free-market capitalist system. Hence, whenever there is a lowering of taxes that allows citizens to keep a larger percentage of what they've legally earned or have saved (the government extorting less money from the private sector), such a tax cut is always characterized by liberals as a "gift."

Borrowing money from China or from any other country is a very liberal progressive concept that no true conservative will ever willingly support. If our federal government needs to borrow any money at all from foreign countries, then that should be a wake-up call to all of us about the out-of-control spending of our government, and that those massive social programs of liberal Presidents Roosevelt and Johnson can no longer be sustained. Stealing more from the rich (who hire vastly more employees than do those with fewer resources) does absolutely nothing to cut government spending, and cutting spending is the primary issue here that needs our attention.

Regarding this business of blaming George Bush and the Republicans for all of our country's present ills, let's not forget that the Democrats have actually controlled Congress since 2006, and have had huge majorities in both houses of Congress and have occupied the White House for close to two years now, enjoying uninhibited power to do really anything they've wanted to do for quite a while. For Democrats to blame Republicans for our country's present financial downturn does not exactly reflect well on them the way I see it. I am encouraged by the fact that the majority of Americans (as evidenced by every major recent poll) are now waking up and seeing this leftist spin for what it really is.

JIM BALLOU

Hayden