Less than a month ago it seemed there was a glimmer of hope that a bipartisan effort in the Senate would produce a commission aimed at breaking the logjam that has prevented us from reining in growing deficits created by both parties. The bipartisan commission was supposed to come up with a mixed package of steps to be taken, on which Congress would have to vote as a package -- no nitpicking this provision, or slipping in an exception for one Senator's corporate sugar daddy, or changing any of its recommendations.
In principle, a commission shouldn't be necessary, and might even be considered anti-democratic. It would take much of the management of our fiscal health out of the hands of elected officials whose job it really is. Some will argue that's why the proposal was defeated in the Senate today.
In reality, though, it was because too many Senators still cling to their sense of entitlement to behave irresponsibly, their feeling that they and only they have the right to drive the government so far into debt that it can't escape, like a brontosaurus knee-deep in the La Brea Tar Pit.
Another way of putting it is that people love government services (e.g. Medicare, or education for their kids) almost as much as they love their room-sized plasma TVs, but they will pay any price for the latter, and no price for the former. The politician who leads the charge against that attitude knows he'll quickly become a casualty from friendly fire.
There are still some paths that might lead to a commission of some sort. Sen. Baucus reportedly will offer a version that would allow our august legislators to alter the commission's recommendations, but that removes the one provision that might make it effective. The President has vowed to create the commission by Executive Order and may do so, but its recommendations then won't have the force of law and would probably not be implemented.
Our political system never seems to be able to solve a problem proactively; an intolerable situation must force itself on us by becoming a crisis we can't ignore. Maybe when the dinosaur is neck-deep?
Comments