EDITORIAL - Imagine you have a favorite uncle who is morbidly obese. This is not a matter of a few extra pounds, but a problem of such immense proportion that he’s being fought over by bookers from every tabloid TV show. Though the entire family recognizes that our uncle is beyond the capability to control his food intake, there is great disagreement about what to do about the situation.

One faction believes he must be put on a strict diet. It will be painful, he will protest vigorously, and it is sure to generate ill will, but it’s the only way to reverse a self-destructive course. The opposing faction, not wishing to cause our uncle discomfort or resentment, insists that he be fed. In fact, they say, due to his immense size and appetite, he must be fed more than he’s getting now. The bigger he gets, they tell us, the more he must be fed. And, since he’s our uncle, the second faction says, we all have to chip in to pay the grocery bill.

The uncle, as you have probably guessed, is Uncle Sam–the federal government. It is widely agreed that Uncle Sam is so overfed that his government arteries are clogged with waste, fraud and abuse. Nonetheless, Uncle Sam is so powerful that he can run the country despite this growing impairment.

The two opposing factions within the family are the Democrats and Republicans. Democrats believe in feeding Uncle Sam for two reasons. First, the vast majority of civilian government workers are Democrats, particularly those who are unionized and represent the only segment of the population where union membership is growing. The second, and more important reason, is that Democrats can collect grocery money, known as taxes, from everybody in America to keep Uncle Sam fat and happy. And any time they want more money, they can just tell us that Uncle Sam needs more groceries. We can’t allow Uncle Sam to starve, so we pony up. And the more he eats, the bigger he gets, and the more groceries he requires. The grocery bill rises steadily.

The Republican faction believes in putting Uncle Sam on a diet. One of the Republican faction’s ancestors, Ronald Reagan, believed in a lean, healthy Uncle Sam. He told us that the bigger our uncle got, the worse it was for him and everyone in the family. Reagan knew that the only way to put Uncle Sam on a diet was to reduce the grocery money by cutting taxes. He knew that as long as there was grocery money in the till, it would be spent, and Uncle Sam would continue to expand. The more he expands, the more groceries he will need. Thus Reagan championed a reduction in the grocery money collected from all of us.

The American family is doing very well financially, despite challenging setbacks from storms, spending sprees, and unfriendly neighbors. The main reason for this is that President Bush, with the help of a Republican Congress, signed into law massive tax cuts. Since we don’t have to spend so much on groceries to feed Uncle Sam, we can spend it on our own groceries. Or we can buy shoes, take a vacation, upgrade the laptop or purchase a home. All of this economic activity makes the family and the country stronger, and Uncle Sam is in no danger of starving.

However, the Democrats now control Congress, and they are intent on taking back those tax cuts. This is a tax increase, but they don’t call it that. They speak of "repealing the Bush tax cuts." They believe anything associated with President Bush is automatically something we all disagree with. But if they told the truth, they would say, "We want you all to give us more grocery money so we can fatten up Uncle Sam. You’ll have to wear the old shoes longer, postpone that vacation, suffer with the old laptop and forget about that new house, because we know better what to do with your money than you do."

As we approach the 2008 election, candidates seeking the White House or a seat in Congress will ask for your vote. Remember which side of the family wants to take more of your money, and which side wants you to keep more. Family squabbles will continue, and Uncle Sam will always be with us. The good news is, we get to decide who runs the family finances.