Let us begin

The Sunday-morning talk show drivel wants to put everything on the table. That's the plan. Maybe they don't know what spending to cut, or maybe they just don't want to say what they think. But they all want everything on the table.

No... Nothing goes on the table. Nothing but elbows and coffee cups.

They all come on TV and the first thing out of their mouth is a conclusion. "We have to balance the budget." But we have been trying for 40 years, and in 40 years we balanced the budget four times. We cannot balance the budget.

We cannot solve the problem with spending cuts. Since LBJ and Nixon, our Presidents have been trying to contain costs and balance budgets. Not even Reagan could do it.

The solution does not begin with conclusions. It begins with analysis of the problem.