During the course of this budget debate, I’ve been struck by one thing: Democrats oppose cutting the debate when it actually comes down to specific cuts.  Watching This Week (cause it’s what I do), Chris van Hollen brought that point home to me. It’s as if Democrats don’t realize that we spend money on specific programs that are very real, very tangible things.  He would claim that, by cutting NPR, Planned Parenthood, etc, it’s not because we need to cut spending, it’s part of Republicans trying to shove their (nefarious) right-wing agenda down our throats.

Well, no. It’s because we need to get serious about spending, so what better things to cut then items completely unrelated to the role of the federal government? I’m not sure if Mr. van Hollen realizes this, but when we talk about spending, we’re not talking about some abstract concept where we’re just spending generic money- we’re spending money on programs that touch people in a real way and the lack of which will affect them, whether we like it or not.

But the Democratic leadership is so insincere about the fiscal reality, they can’t even bear to cut $61 billion from the budget- a mere pittance (to put it in context, we have a national debt of $14 trillion). We Republicans try to cut the National Endowment for the Arts, what stands in our way but Cowboy Poets? It’s as if Democrats are parodying themselves- it’s beyond satire.

Which brings us to the fundamental question: what are Democrats willing to cut? And don’t play games about “oil company subsidies” or the like- the tax breaks they receive are the same that every corporation receives for R&D spending and the like (wouldn’t it be a bit weird to single out oil companies as the one exception to these tax breaks)? And “raising taxes” won’t really help us either. We already tax millionaires and corporations enough- to the point where the top 1% (those who earn above $380K) shoulder a little over 38% of the tax burden- and the top 5% (those who earn above $100,000) pay about 58% of the income taxes. Any more and we risk moving further down the Laffer Curve and actually lose revenue (the  Bush tax cuts actually caused a tiny increase in revenue- a point often forgotten).

We have to make cuts- let’s not joke around. And when we make cuts, someone is going to experience a short-term loss- whether it be Planned Parenthood, NPR, whomever. But over the long-term, the free market and a minimal safety net will ensure our national progress.

So what are we going to cut? Republicans have proposals left and right and we have the Simpson-Bowles plan to go on. But Democrats seem unwilling to grapple with these knotty issues and instead just demagogue and keep us on a track to fiscal doom.  Short-term political gains for long-term disaster. What a party.