One of the greatest shames of a majority of the members of our Congress is that they are so reckless in dealing with our country's finances that over a long period of years they have run up a national debt of more than $14 trillion.
That has happened despite repeated imposition by Congress of a so-called "debt limit," beyond which lawmakers are not supposed to go.
The trouble is, the debt limit is a fiction in practice.
Every time the limit is approached as a result of too much irresponsible and unconstitutional spending, a majority of the members of Congress simply vote to raise the limit once again. The result, of course, is that there is no effective limit on government debt. The very term "debt limit" is a sham.
Not surprisingly, with the current limit of $14.3 trillion now drawing near, President Barack Obama insists that the unlimiting "debt limit" must be raised again.
But history clearly proves that is not a solution to the problem of out-of-control federal spending.
What would be a real solution?
It would be for a majority in Congress to cut unconstitutional, careless, unwise and low-priority spending to avoid adding to the national debt, which continues mounting despite too-high taxation.
Unfortunately, too many members of Congress find it far easier to raise the "debt limit," pile up additional debt and avoid financial responsibility.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have now commendably called for about $6.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next few years. The nonbinding proposed cuts were approved in the House by a vote of 235 to 193 - but with every Democrat voting no!
Does that tell you something?
Many Democrats support far smaller spending cuts - belatedly sought by the president - coupled with Obama's longtime desire to raise taxes. Raising the debt "limit" without major spending reform is only one ill-advised component of the Democrats' approach - a plan that will not seriously begin to rescue our nation from a sea of red ink.
Painful decisions are just ahead, but our president and many members of Congress believe, incredibly, that those decisions can once again be put off to another day. They can't.