A sobering dream to start the New Year

I had a dream the other night, and when I woke up I was quite upset. Let me tell you about it.

In this dream the 2008 presidential election had concluded and the new president had just been sworn in. Oddly enough, I couldn’t see the new president’s face as he (or she) began to speak, so I couldn’t tell who had won. You know how dreams can be.

Anyway, the inauguration speech went something like this.

“My fellow Americans, what I am about to say will undoubtedly shock you. The issue I am going to address today is a very troublesome one, and any remedy that we may devise for it will necessarily include pain and sacrifice for many of our citizens. For that reason, politicians and bureaucrats have all but ignored the problem for decades. They may have extended their careers in doing so, but they have also done the nation a grave injustice.

As of today, we will stop hiding our heads in the sand and confront this issue head on. For the next four years, my highest priority will be to ensure that tangible progress is made in arresting a financial crisis that looms before us. I am talking about the alarming budgeting shortfalls on the near term horizon for the popular entitlement programs known as Social Security and Medicare.

Many of you are aware that as members of the Baby Boom generation begin to retire and collect their benefits through these programs the proportion of workers paying into the system is going to be overwhelmed by the number of people collecting benefits. Many of you are also aware that there is in reality no “trust fund” put away to deal with this imbalance. Over the years, any money that was left over after current retiree benefits were paid out has been spent on other things.

So we have placed ourselves into a crisis situation, and it grows worse by the day. If things keep on their current track, your government will eventually have to raise taxes or slash spending on other vital programs just to meet its obligations to these programs. And eventually even that won’t be enough, and outright financial ruin on a scale we can scarcely imagine becomes a frightening possibility. I simply cannot stand by and let that happen.

I want to make my next statement very clear so that there are no misunderstandings, and I want every member of the United States Congress to listen very closely. I will not, WILL NOT, sign off on any budget that does not deal in a clear and effective manner with the financial problems facing these entitlement programs. If I have to shut this government down to force action on the issue, that is exactly what I will do.

This will not be a pleasant experience for me, for the members of Congress, or for the nation. The solution to this problem will undoubtedly involve tax increases, cuts in benefits, or some combination of the two. It will be a difficult undertaking, but we will do it because the price of further inaction will be much greater.

Now let’s get to work.”

As the speech concluded I slowly made my way back into consciousness, and as I did I felt as if a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Finally, I thought, we have a president who is more concerned with doing what is right than with the political fortunes of himself and his party.
Then I realized it had all been a dream. I realized that the next president, whoever it turns out to be, is unlikely to have the spine to confront the entitlement nightmare in a realistic manner. And that’s when my mood changed for the worse.

I realized that the monster is still out there, getting bigger every day, while we pretend that everything is fine.