I vividly recall hearing President Bush, in the days after the September 11 attack, telling us all that our civic duty was to go out shopping and to take a vacation. I remember feeling disappointed, even angry, that our government could not bring itself to ask each of us, as Americans, what we "could do for our country."
About that time the Congress decided to embark on a frenzy of tax reductions. We didn't yet know that spending would rise dramatically over that in the Clinton years or that even more tax reductions were to come. We didn't know we'd be at war in Iraq, that Hurricane Katrina would wipe out most of the Gulf Coast and a major American city, and that the President would decide to expand entitlements.
But here we are with a huge national debt, much bigger than it has ever been and still with no indication that many in Washington are willing to ask the American people to make a sacrifice for the good of the nation.
One Senator, though, recently did make this request. Much to my surprise, he is a Republican. Now, before anyone here screams that there have been Democrats who have talked about the need for fiscal responsibility, let me say that I don't dispute that.
What I do wonder is whether our party, with its historic reluctance to cut spending - especially on entitlement programs - is any more able to confront the deficit demon than is the modern GOP.
It is appalling that our Congress enacted even more tax cuts last week. But it is equally appalling that our Congress refuses to get serious about the unsustainable growth of entitlement spending and about the unconscionable "earmarking" process that, while involving relatively little dollars relative to the national budget as a whole, shows that our Congress is little more than a group of bought and sold politicians.
I would like to know what our party should do in terms of taking a position on spending. We all know that the Bush tax cuts can't be maintained and probably won't be once the next President is inaugurated. But, just as painful cuts in spending were required in the nineties, a similar commitment to trim the federal behemoth's sails is needed now. This nation cannot long afford to pay for the entitlements its government has created. And please don't tell me that it could if only we weren't at war in Iraq or Afghanistan or if we don't go to war with Iran or if we would just raise taxes much higher on those able to pay them.
Those steps would temporarily reduce fiscal stress on our government, yes. But they will not, in the long run, block the runaway debt train that is our entitlement programs, especially Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs must be fixed and the financial commitment of our federal government made stable and sustainable. How can this be done?
I think it is not an exaggeration to say that the future independence of our nation turns on the answer. For how much longer can we hock our industrial and manufacturing assets and our foreign policy integrity to those nations, often adversaries such as the People's Republic of China, who buy our Treasury bills and finance our profligacy?