At the time of this posting the United Stated Federal Government has been shut down for 14 days. This posting is my critical thinking about the debt ceiling crisis.
In my opinion, the news media is filled with stories about which political party is (or isn’t) willing to negotiate about raising the debt ceiling and what could happen if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. Regardless of political affiliations and opinions of who is to blame please ask yourself these questions:
- Do you want defense for your state against foreign threats?
- Do you want protection of your personal liberties regardless of which state you live in?4
- Do you want adequate healthcare and social programs to help in times of trouble?
The answer to each of these questions is probably “Yes”. Most people would agree they are all good ideas. As a matter of fact the first two are already provided as a mandate of the United States’ Constitution. With these ideals in mind can this nation afford to use deficit spending to finance healthcare without putting our other priorities at risk? I don’t think so.
Healthcare is important, it must be accompanied by a fiscal plan to reduce debt and return our federal government to maintainable spending practices otherwise everything else the federal government stands for will be in continually jeopardy.