Conservative Americans from all walks of life awoke two years ago when our government proposed excessive tax increases. We were Taxed Enough Already and banded together to form the Tea Party movement. In an unprecedented display of patriotism, we marched on Washington and followed up with letters, e-mails and faxes to our congressmen and women. We had an effect and our politicians are still smarting from the confrontation with a knowledgeable electorate!

In another battle, we failed to stop the healthcare legislation. After this legislation passed, we remembered the politicians who voted for this monstrosity and fired some of them in the last election. In the run up to the debt ceiling legislation, our impact was so strong that Vice President Biden called the Tea Party members terrorists! He obviously does not remember 9/11 when real terrorists attacked America. Americans know that they must participate in their government if the government is to remain for the people and by the people. Mr. Biden's foolish comment criticizes conservatives, who may or may not be members of the Tea Party, for making their opinions known to the legislators. We banded together to ensure our politicians knew how we felt on these and other issues. Mr. Biden, we are silent no longer.On the other side of the aisle, Senator McCain called Tea Party members hobbits because they would not support an increase in the debt ceiling. This childish name-calling is an attempt to mask the facts. Our country cannot afford further indebtedness and everyone outside of Mordor (Washington DC) knows it. Anytime politicians cannot win an argument on the merits, they slander the messenger. In this case, they tried to taint conservative Americans with monikers such as hobbits and terrorists.John Boehner, to use McCain's analogy, is the Lord of the Sting. He caved in to the Democrats and the President on the debt ceiling increase. Most voters knew that Boehner's resistance was a sham. He wanted to create a situation that would give him and his party an advantage in the 2012 elections. The Democrats outwitted him. The final deal was forged in the fiery furnaces of Mount Doom, resulting in the financial enslavement of generations of hobbits. It is we, the hobbits, who must repay the money that he and his cronies borrowed.After mortgaging our future, Mr. Boehner then launched a spin campaign about how this deal was the best we could get. He not only put lipstick on a pig, but he waved his magic tongue and turned the pig into a diamond. He sold us out and in doing so he pledged our children and grandchildren as collateral for his fiscal folly. When the opportunity to implement real change presented itself, Mr. Boehner waved the white flag and fled from the battlefield, then declared victory. He had the perfect opportunity to downsize government. Not only did he miss this opportunity, but he created another bureaucracy.The legislation created a new super committee of 12 members who have the responsibility of finding ways to cut spending. The President's office has stated that the committee will also look for revenue enhancements. These enhancements will likely be the removal of valuable tax deductions that we cherish as individuals or outright tax increases. I believe that it will only be a matter of months until they decide to remove the mortgage interest deduction. Corporations will lose some of the deductions that enable them to fund American jobs. This will lead them to lay off workers or move even more jobs overseas.In my opinion, the raison d'être of this super committee is to transfer blame for unpopular legislation from the congress to the committee. At this point the super committee is responsible for finding ways to cut the debt. In the future, it may be used to attack the second amendment. The gun control Mrs. Pelosi (the Wicked Witch of the West) wants will become a reality. They will also push the "pathway to citizenship" legislation to naturalize the 12 million illegal aliens who inundated our country. If legislation needs to be rammed through, the super committee will be the vehicle to do it.Millions of conservative Americans sent emails, faxes and letters expressing our concerns to our elected representatives. We put them on the spot and held their hands to the fire. In response, they created the super committee to replace congress, effectively deflecting the constituent concerns away from them and onto the new committee. The committee will be a power unto themselves and will not report to the people. They will brew their potions and then send them to congress for a yea or nay vote. Public debate will be stifled. We the people will have little or no power to influence our congressmen. Creating the super committee is John Boehner's and Harry Reid's attempt to silence the American people.Let the spending spree begin anew! Now that the debt ceiling has increased to $16.7 trillion, the government can resume squandering our money. To refill the congressional credit card, the treasury will borrow another $72 billion next week. By selling more worthless paper, they will again devalue our dollar, which will further fuel inflation. Americans, who worked hard and saved their money, will see their effective net worth decline. Since the beginning of this year, the dollar has declined 7.5 percent against the euro. If this continues, it will decline almost 15 % by year-end and could be the harbinger of another depression.The failure to balance the budget created uncertainty. This, in turn, caused many companies to hoard cash and lay off employees. In the last two weeks, thousands of workers were given pink slips. The uncertainty will continue as long as America does not have a balanced budget. The move for a balanced budget amendment to the constitution is too little, too late and will take to long. We do not need an amendment to balance the budget. We need a new batch of politicians who can slash government waste and bring our troops home!As for Senator McCain's comments, he should reread The Lord of the Rings. By calling Tea Party Patriots hobbits, he is denigrating his conservative power base. Statements like this one make it unlikely the he will be reelected. In Lord of the Rings, the hobbits eventually won the war and the orcs suffered a dismal defeat.Mr. Biden should rethink his position. We are not terrorists! We are voters and taxpayers. Our Vice President is a lifetime politician who has never held a real job. He was first elected in 1970 shortly after becoming a lawyer. In 1972 he became a U.S. senator. To help him understand what it is like to work for a living, I suggest he return to his birthplace (Scranton, PA) and work as a miner for a few weeks. Then he will understand that we are not terrorists, we are hard working people who skimp to pay our taxes and feed our families. On November 6, 2012, he will realize that we are also voters.© 2011 Gordon Smith - All Rights Reserved