Balancing act

Bush just submitted his final budget to Congress yesterday - $3.1 trillion in spending. For those of us who are mathematically challenged, that's a million times a million, times three. Jesus. It’s obscene and completely untethered to reality, but at least it’s his last one (halleluyah!). Which got me thinking…

About seven or eight years ago I spent the better part of a Saturday engaged in a fascinating civics experiment. A room full of regular citizens divided into ideologically balanced groups of ten or so. We were briefed on the basic funding mechanisms that Congress employs, presented with a list of programs, agencies, etc. to prioritize along with predetermined spending mandates and restrictions, and charged with balancing the federal budget.

What a clusterfuck. I gained a tremendous amount of appreciation for my fellow citizens (both Reps and Dems) as we all struggled with some absolutely impossible choices: Social Security & Medicare vs. defense vs. education vs. social services vs. keeping taxes low and equitable vs. raising certain tax brackets, etc. etc. etc. (This was before 9/11 & the Iraq war, which only would have made things harder.) And none of us had constituents to keep happy, or had lobbyists whispering in our ears - we were just trying to see if we could actually do it and come to some kind of negotiated consensus at our little table. Not many of us could without making huge cuts in programs we cared deeply about AND raising taxes to pre-Reagan levels (30, 40, 50% and up).

Bush's folly notwithstanding, we are in serious trouble, folks. I’m convinced that Americans, whether willfully ignorant or merely clueless, have no true concept of what it would take to realistically balance the massive federal budget. The combination of insane military spending with crippling entitlements like Medicare and SS have tied our hands to the point that we are going to collapse as a society if we don’t make serious changes…and there’s the rub. Who has the political willpower to stand up and break the news to the American people that we’re headed toward certain bankruptcy unless we make drastic changes, let alone has the political ability to actually make those changes happen? Nobody, that’s who - at least nobody in their right mind who wants to get reelected. Maybe a Ralph Nader or Ron Paul type who doesn’t stand a chance in hell of getting elected in the first place (and whose fault is that?).

The truth is, we can’t wait for some savior to come along and lead us through this harsh new reality - ain’t gonna happen. That kind of transformational change can only come from the bottom up, from a motivated, informed, committed populace willing to sacrifice individual interests for the common good. A nation of self-governing, involved citizens, kinda like the Founding Fathers envisioned. Not to be too pessimistic, but does that sound like America circa 2008? Didn't think so.