Look it up!

I went to my bookshelf and pulled out Volume IV Creel-Duzapere of my Oxford English Dictionary and turned to page 315 to find the definition of the word debt.

Here’s what I found:

That which is owed or due; anything (as money, goods or service) which one person is under obligation to pay or render to another…a liability or obligation to pay or render something…

I have to believe that somewhere in the Capitol there is a complete set of the OED and that every elected Congressperson and Senator has access to these same definitions of debt.

Debt is not something to be negotiated. Debt is an obligation. Just as when I receive a bill for my cell phone service I don’t go to to the Verizon store to try to negotiate about paying my bill, I pay it. I used my phone, I incurred those minutes for text and talk and now I have an obligation to pay my debt.

Simple, yes? Then why are the Republicans dancing around the facts, trying to negotiate the debt our country owes. This isn’t future debt they need to pay; this is the debt already incurred. The truth is this debt, much of it incurred during the term of a Republican President named Donald Trump, needs to be paid. In order to pay our debt as a country, Congress must raise the debt ceiling, also known as our debt limit. These same Republicans who now want to negotiate voted to take on these obligations for these expenses and yet now they don’t want to pay their debt unless they get some future benefits. Raising the debt ceiling is not about the future, it is about right now.

We ordinary people understand this. We pay our bills. We honor the debts we have made and we don’t try to negotiate our way out of our liabilities.

We can probably all agree that Congress needs to take a hard look at both expenses and at revenues. But this is what happens in a budgeting process, not when we are looking to make sure our debts are honored and paid.

Fascinating that Republicans see nothing wrong with giving tax breaks to the super wealthy, but somehow want to negotiate our owed debt by placing these past burdens on the backs and pocketbooks of those who have the least, cutting benefits to veterans, to the elderly, to the poor, to those in need of medical care. We don’t look at future spending when the time comes to paying off the debts we have already incurred. We owe the debt; we need to pay the debt. If this means raising the debt ceiling, we need to raise the debt ceiling. Plus how much money is being wasted in these weeks and weeks of negotiations? Do the right thing and do it right now.

The United States has a long and honorable history of paying its debts. This is one reason we as the U.S. government enjoys a significantly low interest rate when it comes to borrowing money. We pay our debts and we pay them on time. We don’t risk an economic global crisis because we are playing some political game.

Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling, just as they have raised it multiple times in the past. They had no issue doing this three different times under former President Donald Trump. Three times in four years. But suddenly they hoist themselves upon their high horse of self-righteousness and refuse. Raising the debt ceiling or limit is not unusual; it has been done 100 times since it was put in place in 1917. It is only now that Republicans have decided to hold their country hostage for their own personal agenda.

I don’t care about your party affiliation, debt is debt and we are obligated to pay it and we need to raise the debt ceiling and we need to pay our debts now. We owe it to the people in this country and we owe it to the global economy.

I cannot predict what will happen but I can definitely predict how I will vote when I go to the ballot box next time around.