When you get down to it, the fiscal cliff, along with most of the rest of the political "problems" we face in this nation, come down to one thing: willful and intentional misconduct.

That's a morality problem folks.

Let's put the record on the table, shall we?

In 1980 total Federal Health Spending was $55.3 billion.

In 1990 it was $155.8 billion.

That's about an 11% annualized increase. 

At that rate what is US Federal Spending for a 65 year old 30 years hence when he dies?

$3,567 billion, or three times the size of the entire Federal Government in 1990.

Possible?  No.

Known in 1990?  Yes.

So what did the government do after that?  It started talking about and ultimately passed Medicare Part "D", which dramatically increased future entitlement promises.

Who's responsible for this?  Both Democrats and Republicans.  We have had both administrations and both parties in control of Congress. 

Is the underlying problem simply that government is paying too much?  No, it is monopoly practices which took hold during the 1980s.

But was it just the 1980s?  Why no.  In 1970 the US Federal Government spent $12.1 billion on Health Care.  Remember, this was not long after Medicare was put in place.  Just 10 years later in 1980 the government spent more than four times as much.

Morals?  Where?  The fact that the medical industry would "eat" the government and ultimately destroy our society was known 30 years ago.  You were lied to by both parties and both parties continue to lie to you today. 

They lie because you let them. 

You let them because many of you are lying too.

Who are the people lying to?  Themselves.

Can you live beyond your means?  No.  So why do we allow it?  Why do we remove from personal responsibility the consequence of having children, for example?

EBT cards are one example.  It used to be that if you were hungry you could go to a soup kitchen and stand in line for a bowl of soup and some donated (and usually stale) bread.  It didn't taste all that good, but it was reasonably nutritious; it usually contained beans or some similar source of protein, and occasionally some small pieces of meat, all donated. 

But you had to stand in line before the church or other place running the kitchen, effectively announcing "I'm poor."

We decided as a society that your self-esteem is more important, and thus we started issuing "food coupons."  That (partially) hid your poverty.  But even that was visible, so now it's done via what looks like an ordinary credit card -- but isn't. 

Why?

Because we're dishonest.  We think it's perfectly fine for people to hide that they're sponging off everyone else.  We claim that self-esteem (in the negative sense) is not a motivator, even though we know that failure does motivate people (to not fail again!)  We further claim that you won't get more of whatever you subsidize, even though we know you will, and that you won't get less of whatever you tax.

These are all lies.  They're lies that you tell yourself.  You tell your neighbors, friends and acquaintances those same lies. 

Worse, you lie to your children, and tell them they'll have a better tomorrow, and a better future, even though you know damn well that what you're doing and demanding is destructive and mathematically impossible.

The worst offenders are school teachers, administrators and politicians of all stripes.  I have particular disdain for those political types that claim to be "for the people" or even worse, "for liberty", because they're not only lying they're either doing so from positions of power or trying to achieve power through lies.  Teachers lying to students are particularly mendacious; those who use students for political protest (and there are many) or who selectively teach that collectivism is somehow superior and will "work" (even though history shows it never has) and then argue that they are somehow "special" and should have "retirements" that are guaranteed at a level that nobody else can achieve in private industry are in fact trying to defend the right to financially******their students!

Want an example?  How about right here:

Two Michigan school districts closed Tuesday after hundreds of teachers called out, likely so they could participate in union protests tied to the expected passage of "right-to-work" legislation this week in the state capital.

FoxNews.com confirmed that the Warren school district had to close Tuesday after  so many teachers called out absent; WDIV in Detroit reported that the Taylor  school district had to do the same. A statement from the Warren system said that  by 8 a.m. local time, 750 staff members had called out.

If you associate with any of these teachers in any way, shape or form or worse, are one, you are a pig.  You are a feral rat, a snake, a pile of used dogfood.  You deserve to rot under a bridge and your remains should be despoiled by wild fox and whizzed on by all who pass.  No parent should permit their child to remain in your classroom and any that does should be charged with felony child abuse.

Is my opinion clear enough or need I state it more-strongly?

We will never address what ails our nation until we cut this crap out.  It begins with you, I, and everyone else.  It begins with we the people demanding that those who we choose to associate with and those who we elect to office hold a higher moral standard and when they fail if they are in a position of power they be immediately removed and replaced by someone else.  If they are an associate then we must cease association until their behavior changes.

A nation and her people are only as moral and ethical as those who reside within it demand of those who lead, and especially those who instruct our youth. 

Our founders were wiser than we, in the main.  John Adams comes particularly to mind, who said, among many other things:

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

Indeed they are.

"While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world. Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

The responsibility begins and ends with us folks.

So your charge today, dear reader, is to do exactly that. 

To accept that our government cannot fund that which we will not pay for in the present tense. 

To demand that our government put a stop to the medical monopolies right now throughout the system, without exception, fear or favor. 

To return poverty "assistance" programs to their former status which places your acceptance of such aid in public view; if "society" is paying for it then we have a right to see it, for good or bad, in all its splendor, and be able to count it, as this not only is a check and balance on people claiming that which they don't really need, it also prevents hiding the scope of problems when they're real.

Finally, I challenge you to look at your own personal associations in your daily life, and to decide.  This is not just a matter of your personal way of life, although it may appear that way.  We are, as a nation, governed by liars and thieves, yet arithmetic does not know politics nor will it sit still for them.  It just is, and if our conduct does not change in the immediate future the outcome as dictated by arithmetic will come and your weal -- or woe -- will be determined not just by your own conduct but also by the conduct of those who you choose to associate with.

Choose wisely, for the time remaining to choose at all is coming to a close.