We’re dealing here with an addiction: The American government and—yes, let’s be honest—the American people are addicted to deficit spending. Nearly everybody in America expects more from government than taxpayers will pay for.
And the first step in dealing with an addiction is to acknowledge your problem. So maybe both parties could start by being honest about what they’ve done recently to make this problem worse.
Republicans could acknowledge that they sinned in recent years by launching a giant new entitlement program during the George W. Bush administration—a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare recipients—without really paying for it. They prosecuted two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, without asking for either tax payments or spending discipline to pay for them.
For their part, Democrats should acknowledge that they have sinned in two big ways during the Obama administration. First, they set out to trim billions of dollars in prospective Medicare spending but used the money to expand health care for others rather than to extend the life of Medicare itself. And second, the president’s pledge not to raise taxes on any family making under $250,000 is a straitjacket that creates the impression you can solve a problem of this magnitude while leaving about 95% of taxpayers off the hook.
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