Nation can no longer live beyond its means

The snowballing national debt, which is

now over $13 trillion, pencils out to over $31,000 for every living

American; but as things stand now, Americans not yet living will

end up paying for most of it

Outrage over the debt and its burden on

our children and grandchildren was a leading cause of the

Republican rising in the recent election.

Deepening anxiety over a

deficit-smothered economy contributed to the Democratic waves in

2006 and 2008.

Now, washed in on an epic tidal wave,

Republicans say they get the message. They didn’t do the job on the

debt when it was theirs to do. Given a second chance, they pledge

to get started.

Republicans advertised themselves as

serious budget cutters in the recent campaign, and now they vow to

perform as advertised.

Budgetary solutions may not be easy,

but the math is simple. The federal government is spending about

$3.5 trillion a year, and taking in a little over $2 trillion.

The Republican tide swept across

Montana with perhaps even greater velocity than the rest of the

nation. There is no question about the mandate for cutting spending

here.

That being true, Montanans should brace

for some belt tightening, because 40 cents of every dollar the

Montana government spends comes from our big brother in

Washington.

The most uncomplicated and frequently

mentioned strategy for cutting back is to return federal spending

to 2009 levels. That year Montana received $1.9 billion in federal

aid. On a per capita basis, only six states were higher on the

federal dole than Montana.

In 2010 our federal piece of the pie

jumped to $2.3 billion. That $400 million increase in one year by

itself equates to more than 20 percent of all the money the state

takes in from taxes, and would be a $100 million over-draft on the

$300 million Montana now has “in the bank.”

The impact of such federal cuts would

surely prove the old saying that a government big enough to give

you what you want is big enough to take from you what you have.

Since our state constitution requires a

balanced budget, we won’t have the alternative of going into debt

to compensate for federal cuts.

Our state government will have to

severely cut services or drastically increase taxes, or both. With

conservative Republicans now in control of both houses of the

legislature, don’t figure on any taxing solutions.

Though it pales in comparison, Montana

went through this once before. In 1980 the Reagan wave brought

conservatives to a great victory. Federal budget cuts followed in

1981.

The 1981 legislature, meeting in

January, didn’t reckon on the level of cuts, and spent money from

the feds we didn’t get.

To comply with the constitution,

then-Gov. Ted Schwinden called the legislature into special session

in November 1981 to balance the budget. His recommendation was a 5

cent increase in motor fuel taxes to relieve the state general fund

in federal highway matching requirements so that additional revenue

could be freed up to cover the costs of paying for the federal cut

backs.

Predictably, the Republican legislature

balked at the increased taxes, and the result was a modest $30

million in spending readjustments and reductions. The average

Montanan hardly felt a thing.

This time around swallowing hundreds of

millions won’t be as easy, but the reality is that our nation can’t

continue to live beyond its means. Significant reductions at all

levels of government have to occur.

Nickeling our way out this time will

not be an option for Montana. This time we will feel the pain.

Brown is a former Montana secretary of

state and state Senate president.