My latest LTTE as it appeared in print--
http://www.leadertelegram.com/opinions/letters_to_editor/article_769565fc-f6d6-5614-a8d7-dc90e240f9df.htmlNow that the Tea Party-inspired hostage crisis in government is over, the next battle we're going to hear about is the national debt and the deficit spending from which the debt arises.
Before anyone starts throwing bombs over the issue, it would be well to review a couple simple facts.
There are essentially two kinds of debt (or maybe more accurately, two poles on the debt spectrum).
One kind of debt occurs when you borrow a lot of money to take all your rowdy friends on a year-long binge and casino tour. On a national level, this equates to going into the hole while building a military you don't need, fighting stupid wars, pouring Treasury money into bonuses for the bankers who already pocketed billions while gambling away your inheritance, and so on.
The other kind of debt is where you borrow money to improve your house, get an education and fix your car so you can get to work. On a national level, this would equate to borrowing to put people to work building a 21st-century infrastructure that includes a high-speed transcontinental rail system, providing the whole country with broadband Internet access, building a green energy network, setting up a true national health system, and similar things that result in improving people's lives and healing the planet.
Conservatives typically favor the former kind of debt, and progressives support the latter.
Conservatives have for decades played a game of indulging in unfunded spending binges when in power, then using the debt they run up with nothing to show for it as an excuse to prevent the progressives from creating the second kind of debt, the kind that advances our national well-being.
And I'm getting really fed up with this stupid game.
= new reply since forum marked as read
well done !!!
I love this. VERY well said.
malicious middle finger to a great majority of Americans. 
Thank you for that!
'They' are NOT conservatives, they are radicals.
If I haven't, my bad. If I have, it bears constant repeating!
You're brilliant! 
From the Leader Telegram link, and then shared it with my sister. We're two islands of blue surrounded by a sea of red. I wish our Rabid Republican face book friends would read it and take it to heart. Once again, great job. It needs to go viral.
... "If you can't pay cash for it, you don't need it." That always stuck in my mind. Is anyone watching this "The Retirement Gamble" on PBS' Frontline tonight? We are nothing if not a bunch of suckers in this country, I tell you. Suckers. 
