Instapundit linked a Bruce Bartlett piece this weekend in which Mr. Bartlett essentially dismisses current attempts to cut the budget as stupid, uninformed, dangerous and whatever other negative adjective might fit. Generally speaking, it’s not all that different from anything else I’ve read regarding how to address the Federal government’s fiscal responsibility.
With regards to Mr. Bartlett in particular, I’m sick of hearing from him. Supposedly, he backs smaller government that doesn’t rely on 5% annual growth and more taxation. But every time he pens an opinion, it seems all he ever has to say is “No” along with a list of reasons why the people trying to instill some fiscal sanity are, in fact, insane. It seems only people such as Mr. Bartlett are suited to the task of fixing things. Never mind that, from the perspective of supposed fellow travelers of Mr. Bartlett’s, the government situation has done nothing but get worse on his watch. Perhaps he’s more afraid that other’s might succeed where he’s been, well, incompetent.
Personally, I’m still waiting for some politicians to say it straight and to the point- there’s no easy way to do what must be done. Politicians would go a long way towards treating the American people as adults with such a simple gesture. They’d also go a long way towards gaining some much needed credibility on the topic.
I don’t expect to hear these sorts of things from backers of unlimited government. In fact, I’d expect people of that persuasion to continue to tell us how we can’t cut things willy-nilly; that there isn’t as much slack in the budget as people seem to think; that “crucial” services will be cut. I expect them to air every excuse imaginable to not cut government spending. Americans are too addicted to their programs; poor people will be disproportionately screwed; we’ll be sacrificing our future.
It would just be nice if they weren’t aided and abetted by people whom, like I noted earlier, are supposed to be on the same page concerning the size and scope of the Federal government.
UPDATE: Well, I stand corrected on “waiting for some politicians to say it straight…”. Congratulations to Mitch Daniels. I guess I’ll get something of a test-case for whether Americans respond to be treated like adults.