THE MONSTER UNDER THE BED

Our young daughter Ruby sleeps in the next room as I write these lines. She dreams of friends and family and her soft white dog. She has no knowledge of the monster lurking beneath her bed.

Traditionally, Mother's Day is a time to honor mothers and grandmothers-the special caregivers in our lives. As the event approaches this year, though, my wife and I choose to concentrate on what it means to be good parents. And honoring our daughter by creating a world in which she can thrive is the best gift we can give her.

The evil brute waiting for Ruby isn't a figment of a child's imagination, but the monstrous financial burden she will face because of the profligate spending and financial mismanagement of Congress. This very real debt will harm my family's standard of living-and yours. Our mammoth federal debt will increase the taxes she pays, harm the economy she will depend upon for employment, and raise the interest rates she will pay on student loans, a mortgage and other things. General Accountability Office (GAO) chief David Walker calls this burden the "birth tax." According to Walker, each American's share of the unfunded liabilities, deficit spending, and borrowing from existing trust funds is around $170,000. So before my little two-year old can even complete a full sentence, she faces a debt beyond all comprehension. She has no idea what awaits her. And she had nothing to do with creating this mess.

Walker describes Congress's spending like this: "We're spending more money than we make...we're charging it to credit cards...and expecting our grandchildren to pay for it. And that's absolutely outrageous." He's right.

For years Congress has piled up the debt, borrowing from Social Security and Medicare to pay for other government programs and pet projects. With the retirement of the baby boomers, the unpayable promised benefits will soon start coming due, increasing the debt yet again. And while many of the politicians responsible for creating this mess have either retired or died, the corrupting, partisan culture inside Congress passes the torch of wasteful spending from one generation of legislators to the next.

Why can't Congress stop its reckless behavior and act responsibly? This isn't a rhetorical question.

Michael Barone, author of the Almanac of American Politics, got it right recently, saying, "politicians resist fixing Social Security because the short-term costs are well understood by voters and the long-term benefits, while clear to actuaries, are invisible to voters because no one is decrying them with religious intensity. The politicians sprint to address global warming because the short-term costs are unknown to voters and the long-term benefits, while unclear in the extreme to those who rely on science, are portrayed in apocalyptic terms...."

It's true. Bringing Social Security into the 21st Century isn't as glamorous as global warming or as visible as the war in Iraq, but the problem is every bit as real. And doing nothing - Congress's current position - only racks up more debt that's passed along to future generations. When will it stop?

As always, those without a voice to protest are hit the hardest. How will they ever face down this monster - $170,000 per person - of someone else's creation?

This Mother's Day we choose to honor our daughter by drawing attention to the monster under the bed. For now, we can assure her every night as she drifts off to sleep that we've cleared away every danger. What will we tell her when she's old enough to know better?

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