Remember the year 2000?   I can’t believe it’s been ten years, and I can’t believe what has happened to my country.

New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman summarizes our economic condition accurately:

“We’ve just ended more than a decade of debt-fueled growth during which we borrowed money from China to give ourselves a tax cut and more entitlements but did nothing to curtail spending or make long-term investments in new growth engines. Now our government owes more than ever and has more future obligations than ever — like expanded Medicare prescription drug benefits, expanded health care, an expanded war in Afghanistan and expanded Social Security payments (because the baby boomers are about to retire) — and less real growth to pay for it all.” – Full article is here

We need:

#1. Courageous, Principal-Based Leadership who will make decision for the future of America, and not the next election.   Stop expanding government while the government is drowning in debt!

#2.  A Balanced Budget Amendment, or at least a cap on spending.  Thank you Bob Corker of Tennessee for at least starting that discussion – read here.

#3  A new definition of why we go to war, and how we win.   This “War on Terrorism” is too vague.  We have been in ten years of war (ten in Afghanistan, seven in Iraq), without any sacrifice from the average American citizen.   Thank God combat troops left Iraq last night.   Let’s get the job done in Afghanistan, or bring our troops home now! If we can’t reach our objectives in the next few months, then it’s time to pull back.  Ten years is way too long for a war that the average Americans thinks little about.