Don't blame the Tea Party...

     Over the weekend, Obama strategist David Axelrod blamed conservatives for America's credit downgrade. He and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry called it the "Tea Party downgrade."
     Excuse me?
     The Tea Party downgrade?
     The downgrade was a result of one thing. America's refusal to stop spending.
     So-called Tea Party conservatives were the only ones calling for reduced spending and decreasing the debt.
     Let me type this slowly, for Mr. Axelrod and Mr. Kerry, and their willing accomplices in the media and the rest of the government:
     America has a crushing debt problem.
     The government refuses to stop borrowing and spending, thus accumulating more and more debt.
     Conservatives in the House passed a plan to cut spending, cap future spending, and balance the federal budget. And although in my opinion it did not go far enough, it was a step in the right direction.
     Senate Democrats, in agreement with the Obama administration, tabled it without debate.
     Then last week, after many Republicans in Congress caved out of fear or the promise of political gain, Congress passed a borrowing/spending plan that raised the debt ceiling more than an additional TWO TRILLION DOLLARS. President Obama immediately signed it into law.
     The House eplained that there were "substantial cuts" over the next decade, but everybody knows those are not really cuts, but just not as big an increase over the previous year's spending, which is really tantamount to more spending. Plus, no Congress has to honor the "spending cuts promises" of a previous Congress. No Congress ever has. They must really think we are stupid.
     The president, the treasury secretary, and their cohorts in Congress and the media threatened that the debt ceiling increase proposal had to pass or our credit rating would be downgraded.
     The true Tea Party conservatives were against it.
     Anyone who says they are to blame is lying.
     Standard & Poor's, as deserving of my mistrust as they are, among others, can see the writing on the wall. The bond-rating downgrade's long-term impact on the markets remains to be seen, but one thing is sure. America's spending is out of control, and our progressive government leadership has demonstrated again and again that they simply will do nothing to reign it in.
     Don't blame the Tea Party.