In a preemptive rebuttal– prebuttal if you will– of  President Obama’s expected remarks for the upcoming State of the Union Address, the Left has taken to criticizing what will probably be the most popular commentary of the night regarding deficit reduction.  Seems like talk about reviving our country’s fiscal health is not quite so popular to some who apparently want to bring the walls down around our ears…

More interestingly, the argument against deficit reduction talks is based on the fallacious concept that such a course of action would be poor for the economy and reduce jobs.  Despite the lunacy of this accusation, they go a step further to call for more stimulus spending.  The left-wing organization, Campaign for America’s Future, released a poll that supposedly supports the fact that Americans don’t want deficit reduction.

Emphasis on supposedly….

Obviously, the poll is flawed, and after examining the data on a merely superficial level, it becomes quite apparent as to why.  They base the idea that Americans do not want to reduce the deficit on a question that asks which economic problems are most important to the country.  High unemployment (41%) and outsourcing of jobs (33%) are the top two responses, followed by a ballooning deficit (25%). 

Well, yes, of course, high unemployment is the most pressing economic issue, but how does taking steps to reduce the deficit somehow impede job growth?  Is it not possible to decrease the deficit and reduce unemployment?  Apparently, the answer is “no” for the left, which is actually the wrong answer (just to be clear).  So, why do they think that?  Simple.  The only way the Left thinks economic growth is possible is by spending more money.  Seriously:

Anticipating a heavy focus on reducing the deficit in President Obama‘s State of the Union address next week, liberal groups are already attacking the idea, arguing that deficit reduction should not come before further stimulus to help the economy.

Further, the study’s selective sampling tactics speak for themselves.  The people at Campaign for America’s Future oversampled three demographic sectors of the population: Young people, Unmarried women, and “Nonwhite.”  So, they surveyed a population that is not only completely unrepresentative of the general citizenry, but it is a population that is composed of an outstanding majority of democrat loyalists.

But now that we’re done with the smoke an mirrors– to take a line from Paul Ryan– let’s move on to the real meat of the matter.  While it may be true that the far left wants more spending, it would necessarily be smart to believe this logic alone is the true reasoning as to why they oppose deficit reduction.  The real reason they oppose the idea is because efficient deficit reduction is contingent upon cuts and reforms to liberal pet-programs: Social Security and Medicare (defense cuts have already been proposed at $72 million).

This fear is readily visible by looking at the displayed analysis of the study by American Progress.  Specifically, the study posits that:

On the surface, 56 percent of respondents support a deficit commission goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction by 2020. But a nearly identical bloc (54 percent) hate the plan itself. When they hear the details of the plan, without any rhetoric, they turn dramatically against it.

Right.  Well, we’ve established that the sample used in the survey is skewed significantly in favor of the Left, and with that in mind, it makes a great deal of sense as to why the the majority of the sample disapproves of the commission’s proposals to cut spending in Social Security and Medicare.

Now, it does not particularly matter whether the deficit panel’s recommendations are passed through Congress– a very unlikely prospect anyway– but what matters is that the reason the Left opposes the panel’s proposal is because it addresses two very specific areas that the Left holds sacred above all else.  An argument can be made to accuse the Right of being similarly attached to defense spending, but while there are absolutely zero lefties who would tolerate cuts to entitlement programs, at least some on the Right (Rand Paul, notably) see defense cuts as a necessity.  That is a logical mindset that faces the reality of our situation.  It is certainly not the puzzling reasoning that denies the necessity of spending cuts to our fiscal health, which is clearly the prevailing sentiment on the Left.

Oh, and the powers that be on that side of the aisle are also still an an uproar over the insignificant federal pay freeze enacted by Obama months ago.  Boss Richard Trumka, labor union czar, spoke out on the subject:

Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO coalition of major labor unions, will give a speech Wednesday in Washington criticizing what he calls a “misguided and shortsighted” focus on the deficit, according to aides who have released some of his prepared remarks.

The point is that we’re never going to get anywhere with people who can’t face up to reality.  That is the real problem with the welfare state.  It’s time for he that giveth to taketh it away.  The real patriots of this country will pony up and accept the sacrifices necessary to ensure the fiscal viability of our nation.