The national debt and the federal deficit are popular topics these days. So popular in fact that politicians and pundits alike wrap themselves in the flag while methodically torpedoing every idea to achieve a "live within your means" budget. Discipline is just not politically feasible. The resounding chorus is that the nation is so great, commanding such potential, that no one could or should possibly have to sacrifice. Good times for the few, if not prosperity for the many, is the order of the day - government dominated by special interests could produce no less.
The fantasy of something for nothing is alive and well. It's a full time job for those in Washington to conjure up the smoke and position the mirrors to ensure the illusion persists despite the inevitable calamitous consequences.
It is now, in fact, the business of government to select and protect the interests of the moneyed elite. The masses, having succumb to the allure of life on credit, believe the fanciful fabrications: you can have it all, someone else will pay the bill. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow the children suffer. Our hubris has been our undoing.
We finance our policing of the globe on credit. We feed our addition to oil. We guarantee billions in bonuses to bankers and corporate executives. We underwrite industrial agriculture and financial, insurance, pharmaceutical and healthcare oligarchies all on credit. We believe the lie that future prosperity will wipe out the fast ballooning debt. Our only saving grace is that though we are foolish, others still play the part of fools and finance our folly. The bond holders choose the lesser evil and wish ardently that the addict will sober up and strike out again, rekindling the flame that was once the torch of achievement.
As a nation we have gone over the cliff - living on debt, a loan the sponsors claim will never be called. So far, as we plummet toward the canyon floor, the wind has been bearable. The well-healed, those fitted with parachutes - the very same people that pushed us over the edge - consolidate their positions and posture for a new strategic globalized landscape. It is the masses, from working class to middle class, that need take heed.
The frailty of human nature is our tendency to seek comfort over courage, respite over resolve. We want our cake though we ate it long ago. We naturally seek the easy path. Gradually government has taken advantage of this fact and made itself into the benevolent master. We have proven we will readily forfeit opportunity, challenge, even liberty for the promise of ease and comfort all the days of our lives.
America is on a path to disaster. Debt and our attitude toward debt are the anchors around our necks drawing us with reckless abandon to the chasm floor. If we want to avert this impending tragedy there can be no sacred cows, no protected special interests. We, three hundred million people, must be all in for this game. The stakes are high, the lives of our children and grand children are at risk. While we have long worshiped at the altar of debt we still possess the wisdom, courage, strength and will to advance. This generation must resolve to pay its own way by clearing the smoke and smashing the mirrors to eliminate the debt now.