The outcry over deficit spending and the rapidly escalating
national debt is reaching ear-piercing levels. Everyone but
President Obama and the Democratic leadership seems to understand
the fiscal crisis facing the nation. We hear dire warnings about
the economy from every corner of the nation — economists, fiscal
analysts, legislators, civic leaders, investment brokers, and
financial commentators in the media. No wonder, a quick look at
various aspects of the economy reveals a dark forecast.
Our debt now stands at more than $10 trillion. The
situation was described dramatically by Yuval Levin in a
Time magazine article. He wrote, “Our debt has doubled in
the past five years and will double again by decade’s end. By the
early 2030s, experts explain, it will be roughly twice the size of
our entire economy (far larger than the largest
national debt in our history, right after World War II) and still
growing out of control, gravely threatening future growth and
prosperity.”
The housing industry continues to tank, foreclosures are
up, more homeowners are “underwater” and prices are falling.
Unemployment is at 9.1 percent and the misery index is the highest
it has been in 28 years. According to a CNN poll, almost half of
Americans think another Great Depression is likely to occur with
the next year. Negative whispers questioning the viability of the
American economy have turned into wails of despair and the public’s
approval of the President’s handling of the economy continues to
drop — the latest Gallup Poll reveals that only 20 percent of
Americans are satisfied with the way things are going and
unemployment is at 9.2 percent.
In short, the current national fiscal crisis is
devastating to the future of America. The only way out of this
fiscal crisis is to go back to those historically-proven,
time-honored principles that are the foundation of this great
nation: individual freedom and responsibility, competition,
opportunity, determination in the face of adversity, and a can-do
attitude that leads to setting and reaching goals through hard work
and personal accomplishment. Guided by these principles and ideals,
the nation can come back from the brink of fiscal peril.
A recent Public Notice poll found that a majority of
voters want Congress to accept its responsibility to tackle the
spending problem that is threatening the nation’s economic
stability. Congress simply must get the nation’s “fiscal house in
order.”
To that end, tax increases would make the problem worse,
as would any measure that would weaken the U.S. military, threaten
national security or undermine national sovereignty. The “Cut, Cap
and Balance” solution would immediately cut spending and slash the
deficit in half next year. It would put in place statutes and
enforceable caps that would align spending with average revenues by
ratcheting total federal spending down to 18 percent of GDP.
Passage in the House and Senate of a Balanced Budget Amendment to
the Constitution would include the aforementioned spending cap and
provide a high hurdle for tax increases.
The nation’s citizens want to see principled, courageous
action to reverse the crisis and bring back the kind of financial
and economic stability that propelled America into the world’s
superpower. That would include curtailing entitlements, reversing
government expansion, and repealing Obamacare (with all the
features — marriage penalty, payback to feminists, and taxpayer
funding of abortion — that negatively affect women and
families).
In short, Congress must make the hard choices necessary to
stop our reckless pattern of spending and get the nation back on a
sound fiscal foundation. Congress must reject any and all tax
increases; they will only cripple families, devastate the economy
and consolidate more power in government. The “Cut, Cap, and
Balance” initiative is the best way to stop the cycle of endless
deficits.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German philosopher, said
something that is very applicable to the challenges we face today.
He said, “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world
that it leaves to its children.” At this tipping point in America’s
fiscal crisis, we have to ask ourselves: What kind of world are
we leaving our nation’s children?
