The Republicans in the US House have introduced a new and exciting - that's sarcasm - program called YouCut.  The way it works is you (the voter) can cast a vote either online or through your cell phone for one of 5 budget cuts.  Then, the winning cut will be introduced on the floor of the House.  Sound great, Republicans hearing the Tea Party message of cutting spending, right?

Not so much.  With the loss of Bob Bennett in the Senate, I was hoping the GOP leadership had woken up to the realities that those that vote for spending - massive government programs or earmarks - are not going back to Washington.  The cuts they proposed on the YouCut site are trivial at best.  They don't represent real cuts anyway.  Today, it was announced that the US budget has a $82.9 billion deficit for April.  And the total of the 5 cuts proposed on YouCut?  Just shy of $6 billion, but yet only one will be brought to the floor per week if it is the "winner". 

Is budget cutting a game for the House GOP now?  Why just one proposed cut for introduction on the House floor instead of all 5?  If I was Eric Cantor, and looking at what just took place the other chamber with Sen. Bob Bennett, I would be taking each vote and each cut seriously.  Likewise, with 14 term Democrat Alan Mollohan, who voted for Obamacare and was part of Stupak's "pro-life" 12 Judases , defeated in his party's primary, both parties should realize that those big spending programs and earmarks are going to cost incumbents their careers in the House and Senate.  Bob Bennett found out the hard way and so now has Mollohan.  Benedict Specter is losing in the polls to his primary challenger and other incumbents are teetering on defeat.  Now that's change.

Is this really a backlash against incumbents or is it a resurgence of conservatism on both sides?  Mollohan was defeated by a candidate that ran to the right of Mollohan and pointed out Mollohan's spending ways.  Bennett lost because his challengers pointed his spending ways.  I'm sure more are to come, but time will tell.  The mainstream media should also take notice that the Tea Parties helped bring down Mollohan and Bennett - so how are they just a GOP movement again?.  Both parties should take notice as well as their long serving incumbents head into forced retirement. 

Back to the point at hand.  With incumbents falling like trees in a Brazilian rainforest and others deciding not to seek re-election, the GOP seem to be playing games with budget cuts.  Maybe they haven't noticed the writing on the wall?  By 2020, our national debt will be at 90% of our GDP, by 2030, we're looking at our debt being at 140% of our GDP .  By contrast, Greece's economy just failed with their debt of $400 billion totaling 115% of their GDP.  And the GOP want to retake the House and Senate by playing games with debt/deficit reduction?  If the GOP were serious about reducing the deficit, they would be introducing serious cuts in the budget, not the low hanging fruit they are proposing.  And who cares if the Democrats don't let the bills onto the floor or vote each and every one of the cuts down!  At least the GOP could come back to the voters and say that they hear what the voters (and Tea Partiers) are saying, but Pelosi and Reid will not reduce the deficit.  This would force the Democrats to play their hand instead of punting to the next Congress, knowing full well the US would be in a situation similar to England right now - a hung Congress (no party with a solid majority) - if the Democrats lose.  In other words, we'd have a socialist in the White House and God willing, a GOP with conservatives controlling Congress after November, but we won't even get that far if the GOP does not stop playing American Idol with deficit reductions and start getting serious.