The federal debt is no mystery. It is fed by deficits. “Because the federal government has long been spending more than it takes in tax revenues, we now face a $16 trillion debt, an amount that has grown by $5 trillion in the last four years alone.”
That’s Richard Lorenc and Jonathan Bydlak writing in The Daily Caller. And they are not merely describing a bad situation. They are proposing a solution.
They formed a Coalition to Reduce Spending, and are encouraging citizens and politicians to sign their “Reject the Debt” pledge. The vow has some takers, most notably Ted Cruz, running in a close U.S. Senate race in Texas, with a runoff at the end of the month. Like all who take the pledge, he promises
- not to vote to raise the debt ceiling;
- not to borrow more money to pay for spending;
- to support balanced budgets; and
- consider all spending fair game for reduction.
Other candidates — from Minnesota and North Carolina as well as Texas — have signed on, and more likely will, as the campaign hits the news, gains fame . . . and “notoriety.”
Perhaps unlike the folks I talked about yesterday, supporters of this coalition and its pledge aim at the heart of the problem. So go on: sign the pledge. And press your favorite candidate until he or she does so as well.
After all, there’s a lot at stake.
The idea that politicians can just run up a tab indefinitely, and “feel no pain,” is absurd.
The pain is coming. The only question is: Do we act in advance to forestall some of it, or just let it hit us like a full ton brick-load?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.