Several months ago, I stopped in a T-shirt shop in Key West, Fla., to buy some souvenirs for my grandkids. There was a shirt there that I thought was quite amusing. It was a black shirt with a cartoon devil holding a plate of cookies. The wording below said, “Come to the dark side — we have cookies.”

The true meaning of this slogan struck home with the results of the presidential election. Far too many uninformed, unpatriotic voters voted their own self-interests over the long-term good of the country. They potentially traded away their constitutional freedoms for a bunch of false promises (cookies).

Now our nation is heatedly involved in a debate on how to handle our fiscal crisis. President Barack Obama and most Democrats want to raise taxes immediately, with the vague promise to cut spending in the future.

This scenario has been tried many times in the past; all that occurs is the raising of taxes followed by an increase in government spending.

In typical Democratic fashion, Georgiann Kerr, Butler County Democratic Committee chair, wants Congressman Mike Kelly to break his pledge not to raise taxes and cave in to the Obama plan. Most rational people understand that it will take both a tax increase and serious spending cuts to affect our budget and national debt.

The tax increase should be across the board in the manner of a national sales tax that everyone would be required to pay when buying non-essential items. There also should be an across-the-board spending cut of 15 percent on all government funding, with the exception of Social Security and Medicare, and an immediate hiring freeze on all government jobs.

Welfare recipients should have mandatory drug screening monthly as a requirement for receiving benefits. Foreign aid to non-friendly nations should be stopped immediately. The United States should get out of the United Nations and get the United Nations out of the United States.

More states should vote to become right-to-work states to encourage job growth.

These issues, along with tort reform, would go a long way toward re-establishing a healthy America.

Kelly should stay the course; we are behind him.