Tax cuts that are both irresponsible and unnecessary don't help anyone in the long term. One must look no further than Arizona to see the effects of fiscal irresponsibility. Tax cuts that benefited special interest groups and the wealthy during the late 1980s and throughout the Î90s have managed to deliver a lackluster economy, a $1 billion budget deficit, and some of the nation's lowest rankings in every category dealing with education, children, and health care.

Despite a war in Iraq, of which the best estimates indicate the monetary cost could reach $95 billion, the Bush administration is pushing $720 billion in tax cuts, mostly to benefit the wealthy. Thankfully, the Senate was able to reduce that cut by half thanks to moderate Republicans leaving party allegiance behind and voting with Democrats.

Interestingly enough, Arizona's maverick Senator John McCain was not among the Republicans voting to lower the tax cut. As the Arizona Daily Star reported, Marshall Wittmann, a McCain spokesman, said, "His position is even $360 billion was too much [of a tax cut] until we know the cost of the war."

McCain plans to continue fighting tax cuts until the final budget is approved.

Kendrick Wilson columnist

True moderates realize the illogic of President Bush's tax cut proposal. He is telling the American people that a war in Iraq must be fought to protect American security, yet he plans some of the largest tax cuts in years. The troops now fighting in Iraq and their children will be paying off the debts the administration would like to incur for decades to come.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle was quoted in the New York Times with similar sentiments. "At the same time we are asking our young people to fight a war for our security," he explained, "Republicans are passing a budget that will force those same young people to pay the bill for their recklessness."

Despite disagreements on whether or not there should be a war in Iraq, one thing everyone should understand is that a massive rebuilding effort must take place once the war is over. This costs money, which is a fact the administration is quick to overlook. Unless fences can be mended with the countries that did not agree with America's tactics in this war, the cost of rebuilding Iraq will fall mostly on the U.S.

One thing we cannot do is avoid rebuilding Iraq altogether. Unless we are hoping to bring the proliferation of terrorist groups and warlords, Iraq must be rebuilt. Indeed, an Iraq ravaged by war without foreign aid is more dangerous to American security than an Iraq with an evil dictator.

Interestingly enough, lack of attention to foreign aid has even hurt our lobbying efforts in the United Nations. Many African countries that indicated they would side with France in a resolution addressing a war on Iraq did so because they receive more foreign aid from France than the United States. As political columnist Molly Ivins so cunningly puts it, "Thank you, Jesse Helms, for dismantling our foreign aid programs."

The state of Arizona will not escape the chopping block, even with the reduced tax cuts. Shared revenues with states are set to be cut, and Arizona has already cut budgets to the bone. This could mean further cuts to university funding, K-12 education and healthcare for seniors and the underprivileged, not to mention a variety of other state functions. Increasing budget deficits and further reducing government effectiveness is not in anyone's best interest.

The administration and Republicans in Congress are quick to paint anyone who opposes the President's agenda, both domestic and foreign, as unpatriotic. If the President sought unity in this country, he would not be sending young people to fight a controversial war with oil as an obvious motive, and he would not propose the most extreme of his policies on the domestic front at the same time. Division is a reality in this country these days, and McCarthyite tactics of labeling dissenters as enemies will do nothing but create more division and destroy any willingness to compromise.

Fiscal irresponsibility has had its day in Arizona, and children who attend some of the worst schools in the nation, seniors and children who are without access to health care, and UA students who are finding classes being cut right and left are now paying the price. May the moderates bring sensibility to the administration's irresponsible budget!

Kendrick Wilson is a political science sophomore. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.