No taxes? Not according to Stockman.

For those who say that we need to keep taxes low, let me ask you: how are we going to pay for the war? Both of them? How are we going to keep our children (and yes, every single child in this country is our child) educated, healthy and housed? How are we going to ensure that the Social Security that you and I have paid into all of our lives will be there for us?

We are going to have to not only cut spending, but raise taxes in order to balance the budget. Some say that will slow down the economy and is no was to go. But that just strikes me as a pitch for big business to hold on to as much money as possible. David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director, said recently that "If we cut spending and raise taxes, it may slow down the economy even more, but that's, unfortunately, the choice that we face."

Stockman, in a recent NPR interview, said some enlightening things about the current economic crisis, and how both the Democratic and Republican parties are not facing up to the hard choices that we are going to have to make. He criticized the Republican Party's Contract with America, calling it "half right on some things, and...half baked on a lot of others." Specifically, the Contract calls for cuts in non-defense spending of up to 100 billion dollars, and Stockton points out that the deficit is 1.5 trillion and growing. In his estimation, "it's pretty obvious you can't get the job done." He also thinks that Obama is being disingenuous by saying that he will propose no new taxes on the middle class, or anyone who earns under $250,000.00. When asked if we are going to need to raise taxes on the middle class, this former budget director for one of the most conservative administrations in the 20th century answered: "Sure, absolutely. He should tell them, we're going to raise all your taxes because that's the only way we can support all these programs that I want to keep."

Stockman gives credence to the practical wisdom of reducing spending and raising taxes in order to get the government back in balance. We're going to have to bite the bullet. Stop talking about reducing taxes or making the Bush era tax cuts permanent. And by the way, all of you who consider yourselves patriotic Americans, raising taxes is a patriotic act. If you aren't willing to have your taxes raised in order to pay for the war, that is unpatriotic.