And perhaps nothing defines Republicans and Democrats more clearly than the debate over taxes, who pays and how much and how all that money should be spent.
Montana's race for the U.S. House is no different: Three-time GOP incumbent Rep. Denny Rehberg and his Democratic challenger, state lawmaker Monica Lindeen, differ sharply over the argument-inducing topic of taxes and the federal budget.
Rehberg said he credits Bush's tax cuts with keeping the American economy afloat after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and last year's razing hurricane season.
“Thank goodness we had that tax relief,” Rehberg said. “What that does is stimulate the economy.”
But those disasters, including the war in Iraq, have cost a lot of federal money, driving the U.S. debt to an estimated $8.5 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury.
Rehberg said the nation doesn't need to raise taxes to pay for the war in Iraq.
“Taxes do not need to be raised,” he said. “We looked at this very closely. You have to have a plan. There isn't a farmer or a rancher or somebody in business who doesn't carry a certain level of debt. Where you get in trouble is when your debt is not manageable.”
Rehberg said he believes the nation's current debt is manageable. If things keep going as they are, he said, half of the debt will be paid by 2009.
Lindeen disagreed, saying Bush's tax cuts went mostly to the wealthy. She said the cuts only further widened the gap between America's rich and “the shrinking middle class.”
Lindeen said it is wrong to pay for a war on credit.
“Go back to World War II,” she said. “When we had a moral conscience in Congress, people understood that wars cost money.”
The current debt is not sustainable, she said, and will be passed on to “our children and grandchildren.”
Lindeen also said it is wrong that the wealthy - those who benefit most from American capitalism - are not asked to pay for wars to defend this nation.
Lindeen said America's current tax structure is inherently unfair. Corporations, which want to be recognized as “citizens” for the purposes of influencing public policy, don't want to be treated like citizens when it comes to taxation. Far too many incorporate themselves into offshore businesses to avoid paying taxes, she said, even as they export American jobs overseas.
Tax cuts to the wealthy have not resulted in a higher standard of living for working Americans, she said.
“Real income of typical households have fallen five years in a row,” she said, adding that some of the wealthiest Americans who benefited from Bush's tax cuts saved up to $100,000 a year, several times more than many Montanans earn in a year.
The two candidates also disagreed about China, one of America's main economic rivals, buying so much of the nation's debt.
Rehberg said he would be concerned if China were buying American assets such as ports in deals that can't be undone. But debt is another issue. The U.S. government eventually pays that off.
“We have a government and we have a system that can keep them from manipulating our markets,” he said. “It's not like they own us. We just have to make sure that we minimize the level of our debt so it doesn't overtake our economy.”
Lindeen said she is concerned that China, along with economic rival Japan, owns so much of American debt.
“We've got two foreign countries holding the cards,” she said. “I was brought up to believe that you were supposed to live within your means. Whatever happened to being self-sufficient and independent as a nation?”
Rehberg said taxation is only part of the equation: The other half is spending. Rehberg expressed frustration with the nation's inability to curb its spending, saying as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, he prefers to go through government agency budgets item by item to make sure money is spent wisely.
“We still haven't got a handle on spending,” he said. “We have to come up with a plan.”
Rehberg said he wants to find any spending that is wasteful, even in departments like Defense and Homeland Security.
“Why protect those two?” he said. “Montanans have a right to demand value. Wasting tax dollars drives me crazy.”
Montana, in contrast to the federal government, must balance its books at the end of every two years. Every dollar spent in the state, Rehberg said, is balanced against all other needs. But at the federal level, Rehberg said, appropriators can't see the whole picture. Instead, federal spending is broken up into big topics like energy and water, or health and human services. Lawmakers can only look at spending within those budgets. They can't take money from one topic and transfer it to another.
Rehberg thinks that should change. He also opposes congressional earmarks when one lawmaker requests funding a special project usually within his or her own district. He also thinks earmarks should, at the very least, be much more public, so voters know who asked for what spending.
“When you hear about things like the ‘bridge to nowhere,' I'm as embarrassed by that as (voters) are,” Rehberg said, referring to an infamous earmarked bridge in Alaska.
Lindeen agreed that spending is half the problem, but questioned a Congress that would cut taxes to the wealthy and then balance the books by cutting programs benefiting the poor and lower middle class.
Lindeen said the wealthy should pay their “fair share.”
Some of the biggest checks she ever wrote, Lindeen said, were the checks to pay the taxes after she and her family sold their successful Internet business. It hurt, she said. But she felt lucky for being born in a country where a girl from Shepherd could make enough money to even worry about paying a lot in taxes.
“Why doesn't Congress buy a backbone and get rid of the tax loopholes that encourage these companies to take our jobs overseas and allow them to pay nothing in taxes?” she said.
Editor's note: This is the fourth in a series of six Monday stories highlighting specific issues in the race for Montana's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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