Never forget Sept. 11, 2001. With that said, let's move on to a more contemporary political issue: President Biden's massive $3.5 trillion (with a "t") budget proposal.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who opposes Biden's bloated budget, is my kind of Democrat because he also rejects Biden's far left socialist agenda.
In a revealing Wall Street Journal op-ed last weekend, Manchin declared that he won't support Biden's "build back better" budget proposal because "some in Congress have a strange belief (that) there is an infinite supply of money to deal with any current or future crisis, and that spending trillions upon trillions will have no negative consequence for the future. I disagree," Manchin wrote, and I agree with the fiscally responsible senator.
"Now, Democratic congressional leaders propose to pass the largest spending bill in history with no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt or the inevitability of future crises," Manchin continued. "Ignoring the fiscal consequences of our policy choices will create a disastrous future for the next generation," including my 17-year-old twin grandsons.
"By placing a strategic pause on this budgetary proposal… we can and will build a stronger nation for all our families," the senator concluded.
How refreshing to hear a Democrat put the brakes on the president's out-of-control spending proposal. Biden and congressional Democrats are talking about "historic investments" but when they use those words, remember that they're talking about spending our hard-earned tax dollars. I send more than 20 percent of my taxable income to the IRS (another payment is due Sept. 15), so I think I'm paying my fair share even though I don't make $400,000 per year, Biden's definition of "rich."
Also, let's remember that almost half of all Americans, including some very rich people, don't pay federal income taxes for one reason or another. That fact hurt Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) when he mentioned it during his unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign. Sometimes it's best not to tell the American people the painful truth, because that's not what they want to hear. As Manchin wrote, they want to hear that the federal government can spend trillions of dollars on "free stuff," everything from child care to community college tuition. Everything will be free in the socialists' brave new world.
Manchin's strong stand against Biden's $3.5 trillion budget proposal reminds me of my old political role model, Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fiscally conservative Democrat from Everett, Washington, who was sometimes referred to as "the senator from Boeing." That wasn't a pejorative term, however, because Jackson took good care of Boeing, the backbone of Seattle's economy in those days.
Romney called Biden's bloated budget proposal "a blue whale – large, soft and very blue, which will add massively to our already ballooning national debt." Romney is right again.
A Washington Examiner editorial opined that "it's no coincidence that centrist House Democrats are refusing to go along with Biden's radical $3.5 trillion spending plan now that he has been weakened by Afghanistan. Voters don't trust Biden on any issue other than COVID…" No they don't, and that will be a big problem for Democrats in next year's midterm elections.
I hope that Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a centrist Democrat, will join Manchin in voting against Biden's massive spending proposal.
In praise of the firefighters: Let's hear it for the brave firefighters who kept the huge Caldor Fire away from most of the populated areas at South Lake Tahoe. They battled the flames in terrible conditions including hot temperatures and high winds. God bless the firefighters.
Guy W. Farmer is the Appeal's senior political columnist.
