Leaving Our National Debt to Our Grandkids

In my writing, I've always tried to stay away from politics considering myself, as a pastor, more qualified to address moral issues. But House Speaker John Boehner argued that the debt crisis our country faces is indeed a moral problem. It got me thinking.

In Proverbs 13:22, Solomon writes, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children." If that is true, what does it imply about the man who doesn't leave his descendants anything? Obviously, he's not a good man. Let's take that one step further. What would this imply about the man who, instead of leaving his grandchildren an inheritance, leaves them a whole slew of debt - more debt than they could ever repay? That man must be downright evil.

But isn't that exactly what we are doing as a country? We've once again reached our legal debt limit at over $14.3 trillion, and the battle rages to raise the limit to accommodate another $1.65 trillion deficit this year with trillion dollar deficits predicted every year into the future. I can't even get my mind around numbers that big.

What I can understand is when our National Debt is divided by the number of citizens. Now I can see my share. By the way, that share is $46,224.58 for every citizen. That is how much of the National Debt my six year-old son owes, and my twelve year-old son owes, and my fifteen year-old daughter owes. Don't forget about my wife and I, we each owe a share as well. My family share is well over $230,000, and it only keeps going up.

That makes me pretty nervous. I don't make very much as a poor preacher. I will never be able to pay back my family's share, not this side of the grave. All that debt will be transferred to my children and grandchildren. That is immoral. As a country, we are willing to do it to our grand kids so we can have the benefit of more government than we can afford.

Everyone seems to know we can't keep on going on this way, but few seem to want it changed. Yes, we all want the benefits of cheap atomic power, but don't put the reactor in my backyard. Yes, we want the budget cut, but not if it involves cutting any of my benefits. But, don't worry. Our grand kids can figure it all out.

President Obama formed the National Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to study the issue, but both he and congress ignored their recommendations. Yet the commission did bring attention to the crisis. Erskine Bowles, chairman of the commission and former Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton, told congress in March,

"I'm really concerned. I think we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. . . The fiscal path we are on today is simply not sustainable. This debt and these deficits that we are incurring on an annual basis are like a cancer, and they are truly going to destroy this country from within unless we have the common sense to do something about it."

That's just the problem. Quoting Tim Wildman of the American Family Association,

"Liberal politicians are absolute tax and spend addicts. They cannot control themselves. They are checked only by conservatives, and when there are not enough conservatives to stop them, they act like children in a candy store with no adult around."

Following Obama's State of the Union Address in January, the liberal Washington Post wrote,

"The White House may have decided that debt reduction is so tough it has to await what officials, speaking not for attribution, have termed 'a forcing event.'"

Who knows what that could be, but it sounds like a financial meltdown.

Tim Wildman further states,

"It could be that a lot of liberal politicians know that what Erskine Bowles is saying is true. But these politicians figure that they are not going to be around anyway when America's financial system comes tumbling down so why go through the pain of telling people they can't have what they've always had, compliments of the American taxpayer."

That is dereliction of duty. That is immoral. We must stop voting for the very ones who got us into this mess.