Finding The Will To Sacrifice

By Patrick Weadon

This month I was tasked by the editors of the Voice to endorse a candidate for president. Because of my status as a federal employee, however, I am forbidden from making such an endorsement. What I can do is endorse an idea that I believe will have to be embraced by the eventual winner in November, namely that in order to meet the fiscal challenges of the current day we must cut government expenditures and raise taxes.

That will not be easy; whoever occupies the Oval Office will have to find the courage to ignore his base and make the hard choices we have avoided for quite some time. Americans love Social Security, Medicare, student loans and a strong military. We love to believe, to quote Ronald Reagan, that our nation is “the last best hope of mankind.” What we do not love is the tax bill due every year to pay for the aforementioned benefits.

For too long the people of this nation have demanded high levels of benefits and services but have balked at paying the cost. Our political leaders on both sides of the aisle have been complicit in this refusal to face fiscal reality. Rather than raise the tax rates required to pay for the true cost of these programs, they have year after year allowed us to pay bargain-basement prices for expensive services and entitlements. Who makes up the difference? Well, we know the answer, the corps of nations and individuals who buy our treasury bonds. Our refusal to pay the freight for the cost of keeping our society viable has put all of us in an untenable position.

As noted, no political leader that I know of has had the courage to come forward and confront this challenge. In addition, some would have you believe the way to solve this problem is to do one of two things: either cut government to the bone or raise taxes to unacceptable levels. This is nonsense. The next leader of our nation must find the courage and the will to do both in appropriate ways.

On the reduction side, we need to increase the retirement age, means test Social Security and Medicare, eliminate the home mortgage deduction, and reduce the size of our military. In addition, while organizations like PBS are nice, I am afraid I agree with my conservative brethren that the time has come to do a comprehensive triage of every organization supported by tax dollars.

Reducing expenditures is only part of the solution. We need to adjust our tax rates back to the levels of the Clinton administration, add a deficit tax of $1 on every gallon of gasoline and ask everyone - not just millionaires - to pay something to the government every year. Most importantly, we need to ensure any monies raised through these proposals are used to pay for current programs and not used for new spending initiatives.

If the new man in the Oval Office can pull this off and his successors can maintain this kind of approach for a decade or two, we can retain our social safety net, continue to have the funds required to invest in infrastructure and education, and pay down our debt. It will not be easy; sacrifice will be required. It is my hope that our next president will be one who will have the ability to inspire us to think beyond our next tax bill and Social Security check. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Let us begin.