Time for the GOP to Step Up to the Fiscal Plate

The US Congress has now passed the bill extending tax rates and reducing Social Security taxes. That was a good thing to do in the represent economic situation, but the clock is still ticking on America's fiscal condition, and in two weeks the Democrats who lost in November will be gone and the Republicans will be in charge of budgetary matters.
The Social Security tax relief and Bush tax cut extensions were not paid for by increasing other taxes or reducing spending in other parts of the US budget. That represents almost 1 trillion unfunded dollars to be added to the national deficit.
The debt of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, estimated at almost 1 trillion dollars, is not yet shown on the budget, but Congress has guaranteed their losses. Add to that the cost of Afghanistan and the unfunded costs begin to mount up.
The conservative Tea Partiers and other GOP conservatives elected in November won largely because they promised to get a handle on all these out-of-control expenditures and operate within a strict budget.
That promise should not be taken as just more campaign rhetoric. It is a key to the future of the United States as we know it.
If the GOP does not get the national budget under control and figure out how to begin lowering the national long term debt, America will sink into a fiscal morass that no one, not even Superman, will be able to pull us out of.
My hope is that every American - Republicans, Democrats and independents - will hold the feet of the new Congress to the fire. All the time, even over seemingly small matters. It is more than a matter of keeping election promises, it is a matter of national survival. Don't accept the usual answers - the "this case is unique" sort of explanation that our elected representatives so often rely on. Make them do what they must, even when it hurts them. Even when it hurts us.
The alternative will hurt a lot more - rapid inflation, loss of international influence, and the admission that the American Dream is over and the nightmare has begun.