Put the checks in the mail

Watching the deficit cutting dance in D.C., I must ask: Where were you ultra-committed, deficit-cutting Republicans back when Bush II slashed tax rates during a time of steady economic growth and prosperity? How about when he got us into the unbudgeted “off the books” Iraq war followed by the widely agreed to be unwinnable Afghanistan war? Where were you when he pushed through his unfunded, mandated Medicare prescription drug benefit that the CBO and GAO explained would blow holes in budgets for all time?

Regarding the disastrous decision not to reinstate tax rates that Bush II himself intended to be only temporary: If you believe those wars necessary, why refuse to pay for them? If you believe the unfunded Medicare prescription drug benefit worthwhile, why not pay for it? If you believe defense spending and the 86 percent of the budget you have so far refused to consider cutting so sacred, why not pay the bill?

One more thing. Who among you is unaware that our current tax rates on the rich are the lowest they’ve been since the 1950s? Let’s do the patriotic thing: Pay the bills as they are all overdue!

Melissa Rose

Malo, Wash.