Absolutely not, but it is time for strong leadership in Washington. We must begin to take fundamental, positive steps to reduce the deficit. We need to act responsibly, to stop the out of control spending and to work together to get the economy back on track.

As Ronald Reagan said, for too long our government has operated on the following premise: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.” It’s this kind of thinking that’s led to massive expansion of government into the private sector and led to our growing national debt.

To say that we can’t indefinitely sustain deficit spending is an understatement. Don’t let anyone tell you that increased government spending doesn’t affect each American. The average American worker now has to labor 111 days just to pay for federal spending, according to Monika Ciesielska, from the Center for Fiscal Accountability. She writes that although tax freedom day actually dropped ten days this year over the previous year, the Cost of Government Day advanced nearly a month.

Personally, I think Washington needs to take a deep breath and take their hands out of taxpayers’ pockets. Because I firmly believe leadership isn’t a knack for spending taxpayer money, but instead leadership is realizing when not to spend money and when you have to, knowing how to stretch each dollar in a positive direction.

Now is the time to cut spending, look for waste and not take on new programs that we can’t afford.

Cross posted at Vern Buchanan, United States Congressman.

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