When it comes to federal spending, boogeyman is bipartisan

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Banner Elk Republican, recently told a Charlotte Chamber of Commerce group visiting Washington, "You should fear for your country."

The Democratic majority in Congress, she warned, has become "bolder and bolder" with tax dollars and the rules of the House. "I am trying to scare you to death," said Rep. Foxx.

Rep. Foxx, you'll recall, in 2006 helped secure $550,000 in federal money for a proposed teapot museum in her district. Citizens Against Government Waste, a national organization, publicized the grant in its 2006 "Pig Book" of pork barrel waste.

Rep. Foxx also defended comments she had made to a radio program that Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois "basically are socialists...."

"I believe they are socialists, and if you look at their platforms you will see their plan is to take money from part of the population and give it to other people in the population," she said later, referring to their health care plans. "I don't know the dictionary definition of socialism, but most people would see that as socialism."

She was right about one thing: She doesn't know the definition of socialism. A dictionary would tell her socialism involves public (or government) ownership -- rather than private ownership -- of the means of production and distribution. Neither Sen. Clinton nor Sen. Obama has advocated that.

What Rep. Foxx is referring to is redistribution of wealth by the government. It's done primarily by taxes and appropriations. For example, to fund the recently enacted economic stimulus package, the government will borrow $168 billion to give to families with incomes under $174,000. The New Yorker's financial columnist, James Suroweicki, observed, "Given that two-thirds of all income taxes in the United States are paid by households that earn more than that, this is a startlingly redistributive move from an administration not known for such measures." Rep. Foxx voted for that redistribution, by the way.

Republicans once were the party of fiscal sobriety. No more. They've discovered what Democrats have known for decades: Deficit spending is fun; tax hikes and spending cuts aren't. If a member of Congress thinks the public will believe only one party is the boogeyman, that's scary.