It’s universally acknowledged, by people of all political persuasions, that Gov. Romney won the first presidential debate by a landslide.
At the risk of arguing with success (and playing armchair quarterback), I’d like to mention an item that I wish that Gov. Romney had added to his otherwise excellent discussion of our country’s massive deficit.
When asked about the deficit, Gov. Romney first discussed the following moral imperative:
“I think it’s, frankly, not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to be passed on to the next generation. And they’re going to be paying the interest and the principle all their lives. And the amount of debt we’re adding, at a trillion a year, is simply not moral.”
Gov. Romney then set forth his constructive solutions of growing the economy and specific spending reductions to resolve the problem, and set forth his helpful test for eliminating unnecessary government programs. (“Is the program so critical it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?”) This was all good.
Gov. Romney also aptly pointed out that President Obama’s approach of raising taxes is counterproductive, as it slows economic growth. (“The problem with raising taxes is that it slows down the rate of growth and you could never quite get the job done.”)
My only concern was with Gov. Romney’s moral imperative statement. Although many of us agree with Gov. Romney that it is immoral to saddle future generations with massive debt, some people simply do not care about what the next generation has to pay for, no matter how onerous it is.
A more immediate reason for responsible government spending and fiscal policies needs to be presented to those people who don’t care whether or not we leave a financial mess for the next generation. I thus wish that Governor Romney had also spoken about the impact that President Obama’s huge deficit spending is already having, and will continue to have on the current generation.
We are already experiencing significant devaluation of the dollar, as the government borrows and prints more money to pay for our country’s debts. This devaluation is already resulting in higher prices for food, fuel and other critical items. Continuing President Obama’s trillion-plus annual deficits will cause massive inflation which hurts all of us “here and now.”
Of course, it’s tough (and often impossible) to fit into a two-minute debate answer every point that every armchair quarterback would have liked to have included.
In any event, congratulations to Gov. Romney for a terrific debate!
Elizabeth Berney, Esq.
Great Neck
