Our country would have a stronger economy in the long run if senior elected officials such as Vice President Dick Cheney were more forthright about real budget issues.
Unfortunately, the vice president continues to make statements that are at best misleading. Consider his “Meet the Press” appearance recently.
Cheney asserted that we could curb growing budget deficits by exercising “fiscal discipline on the rest of the budget.” This is simply untrue and the vice president should know it. Here is why:
We are approaching a $500 billion deficit in the fiscal year that ends next week. This is out of total federal outlays of some $2.2 trillion. Defense spending (which doesn’t include the Department of Homeland Security), interest on the national debt, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid add up to more than $1.4 trillion. Subtracting those from total outlays leaves $800 billion of spending that might be subject to Cheney’s “fiscal discipline.”
Closing a $500 billion gap — which will be even larger in fiscal 2004 — through “fiscal discipline” would mean cutting spending on all the rest of the federal budget by more than 63 percent. Such cuts would fall on federal education aid, road building, national parks, medical research, tornado warnings, emergency relief, agricultural subsidies and many other programs that are essential to our economic health and to the integrity of our society.
Dick Cheney knows this. If anyone is an old hand in Washington, it is the vice president. He held appointive posts in four different administrations, sat in the House of Representatives and the Cabinet. He knows the budget process and the structure of federal revenues and spending as well as anyone. He should know how much cuts approaching two-thirds of all spending — outside of the five categories identified above — would hurt our economy.
If the administration really thinks that reduced spending in other categories will close a $500 billion deficit, it should specify where cuts should occur. The vice president should know, however, that the Bush administration has not exercised any “fiscal discipline” at all.
Indeed, the money requested from Congress — even subtracting that for the “war on terrorism” — represents the largest budget increases in more than a decade. Cheney also should acknowledge that even if the Bush administration were willing to propose substantial cuts in federal spending, Republicans in the House and Senate would refuse to enact such cuts.
Cheney’s “fiscal discipline” remarks constitute the purest political cynicism. They clearly are intended to confuse the citizenry rather than enlighten it. As such, they are reprehensible. Whether the public will find them so is clearly up in the air. History demonstrates that some people like to be misled, to be told that they do not face tough choices when in fact they do. History also demonstrates, however, that national self-deception inevitably causes national self-injury.
The citizens of Argentina, one of the world’s wealthiest nations a century ago, reduced themselves to poverty by believing national leaders who voiced attractive lies for four decades. Germany, Japan, France and Italy are all digging themselves into holes because their leaders and voters alike are unwilling to face hard alternatives posed by aging populations and economic policies that have not adapted to new circumstances.
The United States faces a much easier set of economic challenges than most other countries in the world, both rich and poor. The sacrifices necessary to long-term fiscal and monetary health are not all that great. Pretending, however, that no sacrifices are necessary or positing misleading positions, as Cheney did on “Meet the Press,” can only harm our society.
Wise citizens will reject such seductive mistruths and will communicate to elected officials. One hopes that the message will be loud.
The wisdom or folly of policy choices we make in the next 16 months will largely depend on the Republican Party. The GOP has many thoughtful, honest and prudent members in Congress. Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel and John McCain come easily to mind, but there are many others.
These Republicans need to decide to whether they will follow Bush and Cheney over a cliff or if good sense and prudence will prevail before the damage is too great. Citizens of all parties need to reject facile rhetoric.
© 2003 Edward Lotterman
Chanarambie Consulting, Inc.