It seems there is no limit to what liberals in Congress will attempt to do in order to accomplish their dreams of bigger government. Raising taxes on working Americans to pay for more spending is pretty much a certainty. Not satisfied with just taking your wallet, they would even place our security at risk by forcing deep cuts to America's defense budget. The impact would be disastrous to our men and women in uniform.

In the last two weeks, the liberal Democrat leadership of Congress has not been shy in expressing their new direction for America. The powerful chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA., continues to garner news headlines for his candid predictions of what his majority will seek to do in Congress come 2009.

Last week, I wrote in this space about Frank's pronouncement that the House will "immediately increase" government spending and that "there should be tax increases." The government spending he refers to is more social programs and the tax increases will come from most working Americans. Congressional liberals have already passed a budget to allow the 2001 and 2003 tax relief to expire in two years, resulting in a $2,556 tax hike for the average Alabama taxpayer.

But Frank is not done. He also said he wants to see our nation's defense budget slashed by 25 percent in order to fund big government's rise. A one quarter reduction in defense spending would add up to $150 billion a year. With America fighting the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the loss of this funding would not only be harmful to our military's ability to safely conduct their missions, but operational readiness would be impacted. This runs in sharp contrast to Defense Secretary Robert Gates' recent comments that the defense budget actually needs to grow by $60 billion a year just to keep pace with inflation.

The increase in the cost of energy alone has strained military budgets, so cutting defense spending by 25 percent would surely invite major disruptions of badly needed weapons systems, ammunition and even spare parts. We might even see military bases such as Fort Rucker and Maxwell-Gunter forced to cut back on training and other missions. America got a taste of this misguided policy under President Jimmy Carter when our military suffered shortages of supplies that kept ships in port and aircraft parked on tarmacs. Are we doomed to repeat history?

As I look back at my last term in Congress, the heavy handedness of the liberal Democrat leadership in forcing their extremist agenda is one thing I cannot forget. From their first day in power in 2007, they forced a "martial law" style of governing which allowed for no dissent and their first "100 Hours" forced votes on bills without any Republican amendments. By contrast, in 1995 when the Republican Congress considered it's first "100 Days" legislative agenda, we allowed the Democrats to offer 154 amendments, 48 of which passed.

It is unfortunate that the liberal leadership of Congress has taken the course of deliberately shutting out the will of many Americans. But, such undemocratic action is the only way they can pass massive new government spending fueled by tax increases, not to mention crippling our nation's defense capability. For sure, the damage will take a long time to repair.