Fiscal woes

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has a problem with rebuilding New Orleans. \nImmediately after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc, he said we instead ought to consider bulldozing the city. He implied that rebuilding seems senseless because the low sea level of New Orleans makes another disaster likely. Why rebuild only to suffer destruction next time? \nBut consider regions of California, which suffer earthquakes, forest fires and mudslides, yet still rebuild after each disaster. Call it foolish stubbornness or call it triumphant human resolve, but this is how our society works. Clearly, a city like New Orleans needs to be rebuilt, too.\nBut there's another problem with the reconstruction effort. How will we pay for it?\nIn case you hadn't noticed, the Grand Old Party has repeatedly stabbed fiscal conservatives through the heart. With a machete. A zillion times. Since Bush has taken office, the federal debt is at an all-time high. By signing the Medicare expansion into law, Bush presided over the single largest increase in the welfare state since Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. On top of that, the war in Iraq added hundreds of billions of dollars to a budget already deep in the red. And of course -- how can we forget -- despite all this rampant spending, Bush still instituted tax cuts.\nClearly, the federal government isn't exactly in shape to pay for the reconstruction of an entire city.\nI wouldn't hold my breath while waiting for this administration to repeal tax cuts, so perhaps the best option for solving our financial woes would be to cut government spending, right?\nNot so fast.\nAccording to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, (in a statement that belongs in The Onion) there is simply no fat left in government to trim. "After 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good."\nPardon me while I vomit. Meanwhile, the federal government just passed a $284 billion transportation bill loaded with pork-barrel items, including a $231 million bridge in Alaska that leads to virtually nowhere.\nAs long as no one takes a principled stand against pork, the United States has no chance at reclaiming fiscal sanity. Despite paying lip service to the idea that Republicans are for small government, GOP congressmen are just as willing as Democrats to spend our money for senseless pet projects if it increases their chances of getting reelected.\nTom DeLay should spare us his shameless ploy because this country deserves better. New Orleans must be rebuilt, and the only way to do it without putting the federal government deeper into already crippling debt will be to repeal spending. \nThe Republican Party once justly claimed to be the party of fiscal responsibility. The past decade has shown this to be an empty promise. Now, more than ever, the GOP has a chance to reclaim fiscal sanity. \nBut I won't hold my breath for that either.