A lot of liberals are howling about the spending cuts. And once in a blue moon, they seem to have a point, if not often. 

As DOGE sifts through the spending and Trump uses a wrecking ball on the federal budget, every once in a while, you have to wince, if not for the spending being cut, but for the suddenness. People are losing their jobs, having their lives upended, and programs they expected to be there suddenly evaporating. 

Most of the sob stories are fake or somewhat exaggerated--I wrote yesterday about how a USAID grantee locked the doors on their hospital leaving some people dead or dying for no other reason than to make a political point. They had the money and were eligible for a waiver, but they decided to quit treating patients with no warning. 

That's on them. It's called "hostage taking," in which a government or organization imposes enormous costs on third parties if they don't get their way for no other reason than to make a point. 

But let's assume that most of the horror stories were true.

Who really is at fault for causing all this pain? 

national debt

For decades, federal spending has been skyrocketing so fast that the debt accumulated has become totally unsustainable. As in Great Depression is coming unsustainable. Congress has been unwilling to cut anything. Annual deficits have been exceeding $2 trillion a year with no end in their acceleration. Even the most modest cut is fought against so viciously that the problem is never addressed. 

The debt is cancer. It was diagnosed at stage 1 but no treatment was given. Stage 2 came, still no treatment. Stage 3? Who wants to endure chemo? So here we are at stage 4 and people are screaming about the radical surgery and chemo because it hurts so much and makes us feel ill. 

The United States will not survive without radical surgery and nasty chemo. It is that simple. The patient isn't going to feel good during the treatment. It will suck, but blaming the doctor and delaying the treatment leaves you one step closer to death. 

I'm no surgeon, but even I understand that when one cuts out the tumor, you take healthy tissue as well, to make sure the cancer is cut out. Every story you read that makes you wince and cry out for compassion is the result of Washington being unwilling to treat the sickness when it could have been done easily. 

Even worse, the cancer was caused by an addiction to forever increasing federal spending. Treating addictions is famously unpleasant. Trump and Musk are cutting off the supply, and the US will go through withdrawal at the same time as the surgery happens. 

Liberals built a system that guaranteed maximum pain if it ever were reformed. 

Every single sob story--and some will be real--is on the left. The only alternative to DOGE right now is waiting for fiscal death. Every sob story you hear right now will be duplicated a thousand or hundred thousand times because what can't go on forever never does. 

This time around, I am immune to emotional blackmail. Hostage-taking doesn't work for me anymore. 

The budget battle is existential. The left put us in this mess. They own the consequences.