Dear elected representatives in Congress,
Being an eighth-grade US History teacher, I have been appointed as an emissary from the American people to help you refocus your energies on the significant task at hand. In other words, get your collective thumbs out of your hindquarters and do your job, which right now is to prevent our country's economy from going into the tank. Back in the good ole days of June, I thought there was no way we'd be in this fix at this point, but it is and we are and now we have to get down to business. Or rather, we elected YOU to get down to business, so if you don't mind terribly much, we'd all like to see you stop the whinefest and get on with it.
I think a brief civics lesson is in order here. Our founders wanted to ensure that passing legislation would require deliberation, reflection, negotiation, and debate. Why? Because they were concerned about two potential problems: First, they wanted to ensure that a majority could not rush popular but poorly-conceived legislation through to become law, and second, that a minority could not band together to prevent passage of legislation that reflected the will of the majority. As we can see from recent events, their concerns were prescient. This brings me back to the major point, which is that the process requires, even demands, give-and-take among differing factions. Regardless of ideology or party affiliation, then, that is what you have been elected to do: Come together to mold legislation that works in the interest of the nation as a whole. That means you can't issue ultimatums, dictate terms, or otherwise subvert the process before the process has had a chance to work.
Let me explain a few simple realities to you: Reality #1: We owe a buttload of money to a lot of other countries. This is called "debt" or "deficits". Reality #2: We do not have a buttload of money. Reality #3: There are a lot of people - a lot of the ordinary, middle-class Americans you so love to praise - who rely upon the government to function in order for their daily lives to run smoothly. And in (gulp) three days that government is going to run off the rails unless you WORK TOGETHER TO FIX IT. Here's the other reality you need to come to grips with: There are no sacred cows in this discussion. Everything has to be on the table. Stating at the outset that you won't agree to raise taxes, or cut entitlements, or make any other compromises, simply dooms the process at the start. Back when I was young, dumb, and chewin' gum, I made the typical mistake of living beyond my means. After running up a bunch of credit card debt, I realized I was digging myself into a hole. You know what the first rule of getting out of a hole is, don't you? When you realize you're digging yourself into a hole - STOP DIGGING. So I stopped going out to eat and going shopping for entertainment. However, I still had rent and student loans and credit cards and car loans to pay. So I went out and got a second job, and sometimes a third and fourth job, to raise my income. We are going to need all the tools at our disposal to fix our financial situation. Refusing to consider any solution that includes a specific tool because of an ideological stance borders on criminal negligence, if you ask me.
What's at stake here is more than just a balanced budget or a stable economy. We are on the brink of becoming a second-rate nation. I've made no secret of my concern that other nations are outpacing us. In the past, our government structure allowed us to respond to these challenges. Lately, though, the legislative branch seems to have calcified into a rigid structure that doesn't allow anyone to step outside their self-drawn boundaries. Do you want to be known as the Congressional session that allowed partisan self-interest to trump the national good? Or do you want to be remembered as the visionary group that lived up to the ideal of government by the people, for the people?
So here's what you do: Raise the debt limit, with no preconditions and no threats. Just raise it. Set a deadline of six or nine or twelve months, whatever length of time you need. Then, appoint a bipartisan commission of legislators from the full range of the political spectrum to sit down and negotiate a budget proposal that includes serious deficit reduction and budget reform. There will be no sacred cows in this discussion. Everything, from cutting farm subsidies to reinstating the estate tax, will be up for consideration. Bring this budget proposal to the American people and let them have a look at it. After a full and vigorous review process, vote on it. I guarantee you that such a budget would have the support of the majority of the American people, even if it includes proposals that certain groups dislike. We, the people, are smart enough to know that getting out of this budget mess is not going to be easy or painless. We realize that sacrifices will have to be made, but if we all share in that sacrifice, we are willing to bear them. What we can't bear is the continuation of this three-ring circus you are passing off as running the country. As Abba Eben once said, “History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” Well, guess what? You have exhausted all the other alternatives.
Now get to work.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
P.S. I can't resist a little history lesson along the way: The Boston Tea Party was a response to the Tea Act of 1773. It has popularly been understood as a reaction against higher taxes. In fact, the Tea Act lowered the taxes on tea. What irked the colonists was that the British government simultaneously gave the British East India Tea Company, a quasi-governmental entity, a monopoly on the sale of tea to the colonies so that the government's significant investments in the shaky tea trade would not be lost. The colonists didn't object to paying a tax on tea; what made them irate was the fact that the British government thought the colonists would be so distracted by the reduced tax on tea that they wouldn't realize or care that colonial trade was being manipulated. The colonists felt that the government's actions showed they were considered second-class citizens, without the full rights and privileges of British citizenship. So next time someone starts spouting foofaraw about this country needing "a new tea party" because taxes are too high, call shenanigans on 'em and point them toward the nearest eighth grade US history teacher. So there.