The basic structure of this feature is that we first take a bunch of opinion pieces …
- Mixing it up a little, Reasonable Republican Ross Douthat argues that we need some extreme leadership – like what we get from Tom Coburn, for instance – because in the future, we’re going to have to stop doing the popular thing and start doing the painful thing.
- Paul Krugman says that the economy needs continued support, not a jump start.
- Robert J. Samuelson thinks people have become too risk-averse.
- Worrying that people are worrying that America is in decline, E.J. Dionne Jr. wants Obama to challenge us to be a better nation, and specifically, a better nation than China or India.
- Tim Pawlenty, who is currently Governor of Minnesota and who, in the future, will be discussed as a strong candidate for Sarah Palin’s Vice President, argues that the government overpays its workforce. He’s wrong, of course, but we can admire his willingness to make the hard sacrifices.
… and then we mash them all up:
Look, we all know what’s on the horizon: Difficult Choices. And not to minimize their sacrifice – which was, of course, immense – but the difficult choices ahead will take more courage than that demanded of even the Greatest Generation. Sure, they fought bravely against the Nazis. But, really, fighting Nazis was kind of a no-brainer. The only other option at the time was to not fight Nazis. And do you know who didn’t fight Nazis? Other Nazis.
We, however, face a more complicated set of options. Very soon, we will have to choose whether we will cut spending, increase taxes, or (God forbid) both to avoid bankrupting the greatest government on earth. That’s right! One day, in the not-too-distant future, someone is going to have to stand up to petulant old people and tell them that they can’t get government-sponsored health care when tax rates are at zero.
These difficult choices are going to require sacrifice. And because this isn’t a war, we’re all going to have share in the sacrifice.
For the rich, this means increases to their taxes, which is unpopular. Among the rich. For government workers, this means that they should get paid less than other workers. Even though they already are paid less. We should pay them lesser.
And for Middle Americans, this likely means that we’ll have to pay more to get less from our government. But hey! At least we’re not redistributing wealth.