Founding Fathers sure got it right

When our Founding Fathers designed our government they installed checks and balances, executive, legislative, and judicial. An examination of the last 30 years shows the wisdom of this system.

Ronald Reagan took office in 1980 with a Democratic-controlled Congress. During his two terms, 16 million jobs were created and federal tax revenue increased by 49 percent.

Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. In 1994, Republicans took control of the House. During the next six years, 22 million jobs were created, welfare roles were reduced by a third and Clinton left office with a budget surplus of $230 billion.

George W. Bush took office in 2001 with Republicans in control of the House and Senate. Over the next eight years lack of oversight brought about the housing disaster, a recession that cost Americans half of their accumulated wealth, and a federal deficit of $425 billion.

In January of this year, President Obama took office with the Democrats in control of both houses. In seven months the deficit has increased by $1 trillion, 2.19 million jobs have been lost, and the U.S. owns General Motors. One can only guess what will happen when Washington takes over health care.

Looking back it’s clear the two-party system works only when both parties are involved. When one party controls both the executive and legislative branches of government, the pendulum swings too far to the left or the right.

It’s fitting that we can learn so much from a Chinese proverb seeing that they own most of the U.S. debt: Those that do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
Les Muller
Porterville