Storming the Bastille of the Debt Ceiling

Many of the articles analyzing the drama underway in Washington draw almost exclusively upon "prudent" Beltway establishmentarians, and, in so doing, completely miss the larger historical point. 

Is there a sentient being out there besides these captive establishment reporters and the people for whom they write who doesn't recognize that the country is in dire economic straights, that federal spending has been out of control for decades, that the generation of our children and grandchildren are being impoverished by the mountain of debt run up by our so-called "leaders" who promise all things to all people in order to buy their votes, and that the incremental, temporizing, selfish, half-measures advanced by the Beltway parasites of both parties have done nothing to alleviate the problems, indeed have exacerbated them? 

Then come to the capital and spend a few days walking around observing for yourself the vast panorama of sprawling bloat, sickening waste, and truly stunning third-world inefficiency that characterizes the federal government at all levels. You might even peruse the Report of the Grace Commission, whose snapshot of governmental waste and mismanagement in the 1980s, bad as it was then, seems downright quaint by today's numbers. 

It is Bastille Day in France. The outrage that animated the citizens of Paris on July 14, 1789 is not unique to them. Many Americans feel something of the same spirit today and, wishing to throw off the yolk of an ancien regime that has failed them, hope that the long-awaited day of reckoning and liberation is finally at hand. 

And pray, what do "progressives" who speak of change (but want higher taxes and a higher debt ceiling) think real change would look like? I can tell you this: it will not be wrought by those who nod sagely and prescribe the same old failed policies (largely to maintain their own prerogatives and incumbency) as we plummet towards the abyss. Real change involves risk and suffering. And it cannot be achieved by resorting to the same old gimmicks and fears that brought us to this point. 

There was a sea change last November when millions of Americans voted for pain and change rather than for comfort and listless drift. If we summon the courage to cut the fat out of government and not raise taxes, the debate on the debt ceiling won’t matter; conversely, if we do not, whatever we do regarding the debt ceiling won’t save us.