Remember All of Those Promises Democrats Made In 2006?

With all of the change rhetoric flying around, I decided to go back and take a look at those promises that were made by the Democrat Leadership in 2006.  In 2006, Nancy Pelosi and team announced that they would bring change to Congress and a new way of doing things....the most ethical Congress in History. (Don't laugh...they were serious)

I went back to the list of promises made by the Democrats during the 2006 campaign season.  There were so many promises made that I will be writing this in three separate parts.  It's going to take me awhile to describe all of the broken promises.  I will first start in the area of Fiscal Responsibility since that has become our number one issue in the country right now.  Keep these promises in mind when you think of the promises that Barack Obama is currently making on the campaign trail:

Keep Taxes Lower for the Middle-Class:  (sound familiar)

In 2006, Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, promised that the House would not raise taxes on middle-class families.  However, according to an editorial in The Oklahoman, April 2, 2007, the democrats budget includes a tax hike of at least $217 billion by fiscal year 2012 that would reimpose the marriage penalty and cut the child tax credit in half, tax hikes that would have a direct impact on the middle-class.

Repeal The Alternative Minimum Tax:

As of the 2008 tax season, many Americans continue to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax.  A tax, by the way, that was put in place by Democrats.  This reminds me of a saying I heard recently, "The government can not give you any freedoms before first taking them away."

Reform Entitlement Spending to Protect Future Generations:

At this point, not only are they not dealing with current entitlement programs, but Barack Obama is talking about adding hundreds of billions of dollars more with this Health Care Initiative.  The Government has already spent much of our Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid is a joke.  Both of these entitlement programs will be bankrupt in a few years unless something is immediately done.  Democrats are not willing to take a hard look and deal with these problems as either of them may cost them an election.

Institute "PAYGO" to Control Spending:

Nancy Pelosi stated in 2006, "Democrats are committed to fiscal responsibility through pay-as-you-go budgets, so that our children and grandchildren are not saddled with mountains of debt."  I apologize, my sides are still hurting from laughing.  The Democrats held on to this promise until the day that they took over Congress.  Who do you think sends the appropriations bill to President Bush to sign.  PAYGO was only convenient until they had something that they wanted to spend money on and then that went out the window.  I did, however, hear this week that they were bringing it back.....until they agreed to pay $1.5 trillion to save Wall Street.

Balance The Budget:

On February 6, 2007, Rahm Emanuel (D-Illinois) stated, "Democrats will produce a budget that makes real progress toward balancing the budget, and makes wise choices...."  How did they do?  Well two months later, they passed a budget that assumed an increase in the national debt of $850 billion. At the same time, voting en masse against a GOP substitute budget that achieves balance by 2012 and ends the raid on Social Security without raising taxes. (Tallahassee Democrat Editorial, April 16, 2007)  Things have only gotten worse in fiscal year 2008.

I will continue to show the path of broken promises focusing on two additional areas:  Energy Independence & The Most Open, Honest, and Ethical Congress in History in the next week.  When looking at our financial and economic situation, Barack Obama's current list of promises are frightening.  I guess we could always take a chance that he will do what he did with his leadership in Congress.......NOTHING!!

Update:  None of the items above were filibustered by the Republican party.  In fact, had the Democrats attempted many of these items, they most likely would have been supported by Republicans.