Ultimately, spending can’t be seriously reined in without reforming and cutting back on entitlements, which is where the money is. But I don’t hear anyone saying that serious reform is even on the table, so anything we are talking about now is a short-term solution at best. Nevertheless, I would say, go ahead and shut it down. Or, in the language of a couple of shutdowns ago, let’s have a “temporary furlough of non-essential government workers.” Voters have learned from experience that talk of dire consequences from shutdowns is bogus, and I think there is enough residual concern about the national debt to make fiscal restraint a winning issue for Republicans.

[Ultimately, spending can’t be reined in until the American people start taking it seriously. We complain about Republicans and Democrats who won’t stop spending, but who sends them to Washington in the first place? If we want structure budget reform and an end to national debt accumulation, then we need to vote for people who are willing to attack the problem at its core with vast restructuring of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. As long as we keep punishing politicians who speak to that reality, these annual skirmishes over budgets are meaningless. — Ed]