Our Greek Moment?

Blasting big government and high taxes is a tea party staple, but resolution requires more light and less heat. For instance, those staggering taxes? -- they're at a 50-year low.

If you haven't noticed, America is one hell of a big country. Over 309,000,000 people; a $14.6 trillion economy with a seriously complex financial, commercial, technological and social infrastructure. You can't run it like 1789 or even 1989. It's not a matter of "too big." It's a matter of sufficient enough to get the job done.

Trouble is Americans want generous benefits, government safeguards and low taxes. A favorite photo is of a tax protestor with a sign warning "Don't touch my Medicare!" And in light of recent events, other than the culprits, who's for stopping regulating oil platforms, Wall Street, auto safety, coalmines, meat packers or pharmaceutical houses? And it all costs money!

Conservatives conveniently ignore that the Founders already tried it their way: the Articles of Confederation, a sop to states' rights that served as fundamental law from 1781 to 1789. It was government by supplication without the power to tax, regulate commerce or raise an army, and it was a disaster.

That said, in 2011, the feds will spend $31,406 per household, $13,130 of which is borrowed money. Some of that $1.267 trillion deficit will disappear in future years once the economy gets re-cranked, but not nearly enough. So what to cut?

Disallowing the much reviled congressional earmarks saves only $10 billion out of the $3.52 trillion budget. Purging conservatives' favorite targets like the National Endowment for the Arts, Medicaid and welfare payments, stimulus spending, foreign aid and the Education Department saves $693 billion. And eliminating the Bush tax cuts, pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan and halving national security spending -- liberals' solutions -- saves $719 billion.

Suspending Social Security and Medicare payments balances the budget -- but we know that ain't gonna happen! -- and repealing Obama care, which given five years also will achieve "third rail" status, actually increases the deficit.

Obviously none of these budget lines are going to disappear completely. Each has millions of stakeholders and hundreds of congressmen who feverishly defend it.

President Obama's bipartisan Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform may be an exercise in futility but members claim everything is on the table including tax hikes and entitlement cuts. We'll see, come December when the report is due, if Americans have a stomach for sacrifice.

But nothing will change while Republicans pretend they weren't responsible for adding $10 trillion dollars to the debt mostly through tax cuts and Democrats insist every federal program is sacrosanct. My bet is on politicians of both parties simply kicking the can down the road as Greece has done for decades.