"Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt."
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover’s quote can be paraphrased for 2025 to read: "Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national disgrace." Fortunately, redemption from disgrace may be at hand. A combination of COS endorsed fiscal restraint, proven tax policy and growing public concern towards debt is providing a chance at realistic debt reduction.
COS Fiscal Restraint
In the summer of 2023, COS held a simulated Article V convention. One of the proposals for fiscal restraint held that:
“Federal expenditures for each fiscal year shall not exceed average annual revenue collected in the prior three fiscal years. Total expenditures shall include all expenditures of the United States, including those for payment of interest on debt. Total revenue shall include all revenue of the United States except that derived from borrowing. Any surplus of revenue over expenditures in any fiscal year shall be applied to outstanding federal debt.”
The net effect of the COS proposal is to prevent additional build up of the national debt. The debt, however, still exists. Can the debt be repaid without draconian spending cuts? History says: YES!
Tax Cuts as Growth Engine
Contrary to claims that tax cuts require equivalent cost cutting; recent history shows major tax cuts INCREASE the revenue to Washington DC. Consider the Kennedy, Reagan and Trump tax cuts and the revenue received by the federal government four years later for each program:
Kennedy 1964 (Debt $312B)
1964 budget $119B
1969 tax receipts $187B
Reagan 1981 (Debt $998B)
1981 budget $680B
1985 tax receipts $734B
2018 budget $4,109B
2022 tax receipts $4,897B
Readers can do the math for themselves but it is apparent that each tax cut stimulated private sector investment and, in turn, boosted economic growth. In each case the federal debt was repayable within ten years by holding spending constant and applying the resulting tax surplus to debt repayment. Ronald Reagan observed: “The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.”
What’s the Plan?
It’s clear that the public views the uncontrolled spending/debt growth as untenable. To date, the solutions put forth have been red herrings that cynically discourage solutions. Massive tax hikes or draconian cuts to services are put forth as the only ways to corral runaway debt.
What if COS, Rand Paul and Elon Musk are all on to something? COS wants to link federal spending to national tax revenue (don’t spend more than you make). Rand Paul proposes to redirect all savings realized by frozen federal spending towards debt payments. Elon Musk (through DOGE and social media alerts) wants to reduce government spending by elimination of the ridiculous and duplicative expenditures through exposure to public scrutiny.
The combination of the three approaches excites because we KNOW it can work, despite bureaucratic resistance. Freeze (COS), redirect (Rand Paul) and expose (Elon), are the way America can pay off the mortgage on our children’s future without massive shocks.
Convention of States has emphatically placed itself on the side of fiscal sanity. Will you join us, along with the famous and the nameless, in the fight to reclaim our country? If so, please sign the COS petition for an Article V Convention of States and welcome to the fight!
