Electing Republicans is costly

First there is the $500 billion (and climbing) price tag for the Quagmire in Iraq. And don't forget the $4 a gallon gas prices that came along with the turmoil in the Middle East as an added bonus.
Now we have a $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial system thanks to the Republicans' slavish devotion to deregulation and "unfettered" free markets. And that may just be the first installment of what could wind up being $1 trillion before all is said and done.
And let's not forget the Bush/McCain tax giveaway to the rich that left a huge hole in our budget even before these other expenses started piling up. Tax giveaways that were supposed to spur an economic bonanza that would trickly down to all of us. Instead, we got a recession followed by a weak, jobless recovery and then another recession. During which time most American's average earnings have gone done while the cost of living has continued to climb.
And in between there has been a steady stream of corruption as Republicans handed the purse strings over to the K Street lobbyists and allowed them to author whatever legislation their hearts desired.
So now, in light of all this, is it any wonder that my jaw is agape when I hear Republican devotees charge that Barack Obama is going to tax us to death and break the bank with all kinds of new social programs? While it is true that Obama will want to redirect some spending toward education and healthcare initiatives that have been long neglected, but that spending pales in comparison to the hundreds of billions that Republicans have been flushing away on a needless war and an economic catastrophe largely of their own making.
Republicans like McCain try to conceal their freespending ways by making overhyped attacks on earmark programs (which Sarah Palin used to pig out on in Alaska) which are just chickenfeed compared to the gusher of funds being splurged elsewhere. The elimination of these earmarks would make no more difference in the size of our federal deficit than opening up more areas for drilling will make in the price of gasoline. In other words, barely a discernable difference if any.
So why would people want to keep Republicans in power for another four years? I dare say that we can't afford it.