Ronald Reagan was presidential and even those who hated his politics enjoyed his wit and wisdom. Mr. Reagan and I share similar views on nearly everything with one noteworthy exception. The former president said politics is the world’s second oldest profession bearing a striking resemblance to the first. After four sessions in Montana’s House, I think it is erroneous to compare prostitutes who trade their virtue for cash to politicians who do the same, but for credit. Here is why.

America is bankrupt. In 1789, our young American experiment in freedom accumulated a 71 million dollar debt gaining our independence. By 1899, our national debt grew to 1.9 billion dollars and over the second century it rocketed through 5.6 trillion dollars. One trillion anything is a quantity so large average Americans cannot visualize it, so politicians don’t even try. By the end of fiscal year 2014, our national debt reached 17.8 trillion dollars with every day since breaking a new record. Our debt is as unrecognizable as it is unsustainable and when you factor in unfunded mandates, politicians have made unpaid promises in excess of 100 trillion dollars. Our republic is bleeding to death; a fact segments of both political parties refuse to acknowledge. Here is a snap shot from my four sessions in the legislative trenches to help explain the problem.

The Democrat Party fully endorses the wealth redistribution principle of Marx. Just because conservative Democrats in the hinterlands find this statement shocking, does not make it untrue. From sea to shining sea, elected Democrats use programs to imprison the non-producers in dependency and the producers in debt all while painting themselves as the champions of charity. Over the past 50 years, politicians have wasted 22 trillion of your dollars advancing President Johnson’s War on Poverty. This is triple the amount spent on the total of all American wars from 1776 through 2015. With a record 93 million Americans no longer in the workforce and a record 50 million surviving on food stamps, the War on Poverty is a catastrophic failure, yet the battle wages on and here is why. Governed only by emotion, 85 percent of elected Democrats advance programs mistakenly thinking they are helping the poor. This leaves the 15 percent who know our republic is facing economic collapse, but also know it will be replaced by tyranny; a perfectly acceptable arrangement if you are the tyrant.

The Republican Party was once the party of limited government, but 15 percent of elected Republicans see no evil in Marxist wealth redistribution as long as they are members of the ruling class. Yet again, whether you are a Democrat or a Republicans matters little because tyranny always works well for the tyrant and this brings me to my point.

In light of America’s current 18.2 trillion dollar debt, you would think it impossible to sway political favor by promising federal money which is actually credit and doesn’t exist. If you do, you would be wrong. Early in Montana’s 64th legislative session, Treasure State Democrats promoted Medicaid Expansion claiming millions of free federal dollars had already been allocated to implement Obamacare. When that legislation was rightfully rejected, progressive Republicans introduced SB405, their version of essentially the same program. After passing the Senate, SB405 was temporarily bottled up in the House Human Services Committee, when 13 House Republicans rejected the GOP platform and voted lockstep with all House Democrats to force Medicaid Expansion into law. They prostituted their virtue and your future by accepting a hold check for services rendered, thus placing them in a class well below the world’s oldest profession. Never forget, bipartisanship means the taxpayer gets screwed from both directions. Had enough yet?