
George Washington understood that dealing with debt was the government’s responsibility, but leaders would be unlikely to make unpopular choices in a democracy unless the public was both enlightened and understanding: “The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives,” he said — meaning the members of Congress. “But it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant.”
President Reagan completely understood this. As the Bible reads, when he faced a revenue crunch and massive budget deficits, he raised taxes numerous times– 11 to be exact. Now that we have a Democratic President named Barack Obama it’s treasonous, socialist and un-American to do anything that might be “essential” to the payment of debts.