The American Debt Ceiling and Lincoln's Ominous Prophecy

The Democrats and Republicans, with the assistance of President Obama, are taking the US debt ceiling question right down to the wire. Last week, the idea was to put everyone in the White House and work until an agreement was reached. As we all know, no agreement was reached. In fact, they didn’t even come close, if the media reports and comments from attendees are correct.

So, Friday the Senate and House leadership decided to abandon the White House for the comfort of their offices in Congress and try to beat out a compromise that both Houses of Congress sand the President can agree to.

What are the sticking points?

Obama and the Democrat-controlled Senate want to:

1.    Raise the debt ceiling

2.    Reduce the budget by cutting expenditures

3.    Raise taxes to help lower the already-accumulated 14 Trillion Dollar debt.

The Senate Minority GOP leader, Mitch McConnell and the House Majority GOP Speaker, John Boehner, want to:

1.    Raise the debt ceiling

2.    Reduce the budget by cutting expenditures

3.    Lower the already-accumulated 14 Trillion Dollar debt by making deeper budget cuts instead of raising taxes, which they say will depress an already-weak economic recovery.

So, it’s Item 3 that is the big hang-up. Why?

The House became GOP-controlled last November in the mid-term elections. Many of the new members elected were Tea Party activists who ran on a promise to reduce the budget deficit, but not by raising taxes. To do this, social entitlements (Social Security for retirees, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans benefits) and some non-essential expenditures will undoubtedly have to be reduced. But, the Democrats will not agree to reduce social entitlements programs. President Obama, on the other hand, seems to be willing to cut entitlements or not cut them just as long as he gets lots of budget cuts to use to his advantage in his 2012 re-election campaign. Thus, there is no way to get a compromise based on points 1-2-3 above.

On Friday, Harry Reid, the Democrat Senate Majority Leader, and Mitch Mc Connell, the GOP Senate Minority Leader, seemed to see that they could end the crisis in only one way. How?

Draft a resolution giving the President the right to ask Congress to raise the debt ceiling up to a fixed amount. He would need only to ask in writing and include budget cuts to accompany the request. There are several options about how the resolution would actually work procedurally, but the important thing to remember is that it would allow the Republicans to avoid voting for tax increases (a bone to the Tea Party) and it would allow the Democrats to protect entitlements to a great extent (a bone to their left wing). The downside would be that the budget cuts would probably be much less than needed.

McConnell had actually suggested the idea ten days ago, but everyone in the GOP said he was caving in to the President and the Democrats were afraid that his proposal would make the budget mess their burden in the 2012 elections.

But, today, with only ten days left before America runs out of 50% of the money it needs every month and with no authority to borrow, the deal looks more and more attractive.

If you are shaking your head and saying, this cannot be so, let me tell you that it is so. These supposedly mature and public-spirited politicians of both parties simply cannot do what is best for the country unless it helps them get re-elected.

It is a sad and dangerous truth that worries most Americans, who wonder what will become of their nation if it continues to be led by such self-serving public officials.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

Dear readers, we’re getting troublingly close to fulfilling Lincoln’s ominous prophecy.