The Deficit Commission’s report: a good start, but only a start

Those kinds of restraint are better than nothing, certainly, but they are not the long-term answer. Truly cutting government spending for the next generation and beyond requires much more than number games or deferrals. It requires fundamentally reducing what government does.

Yes, we can direct the federal Department of Education to spend only $60 billion instead of $70 billion and save some money, or…we can do what we really need to do, which is recognize that education has not been well-served by federal meddling, and get rid of the entire department and its entire $70+ billion annual price tag.

We can give HUD a little less money with which to distort the real estate and mortgage markets, or we can acknowledge that the government really has no place in the housing business and take that entire agency and its $40 billion budget off the books forever.

The list goes on, but the point is simple: While the Deficit Commission’s report may be the boldest such document we have seen from official Washington in a long time, it isn’t bold enough. Eliminating waste, requiring government to do more with less, freezing salaries, etc., while laudable, won’t do it. Plain and simple, we need to cut what government does, not just what it spends trying to do it.

Gary Johnson is the honorary chairman of the OUR America Initiative (www.ouramericainitiative.com), a 501(c)(4) advocacy committee. He is also the former Republican Governor of New Mexico (1994-2002), and has been a consistent and outspoken advocate for efficient government and lowering taxes.