Mark Aesch - Saving America: 7 Proven Steps to Make Government Deliver Great Results

My first exposure to American government took place during the blustery winter of 1976 in Mrs. Burtons fourth-grade class. The class was taught in a modular, prefabricated building in our little rural town of Mayfield, New York. I remember I sat in the first seat of the first row because my last name starts with the letters A and eTammy Agnostopolous sat behind me. During the long winter months, bone-chilling winds would blow right through the flimsy buildings single-pane windows, and I would bounce my knees up and down below my desk trying unsuccessfully to keep warm. Many of my classmates stayed warm by wearing big wooly sweaters, but I wore only T-shirts. I had one sweater and it was reserved for my work on our family farm. We had a whole herd of cattle to take care of and a sweater worn in a barn smelled like, well, a barn.

Money was tight for our family; my father worked a full-time job in addition to managing the farm, but with four kids to feed and high state and local taxes to pay, we didnt have money for health insurance, much less a fancy school sweater for me. To occupy my half-frozen mind in the shoddy schoolroom we were stuffed into, I took to reading. It was the year of Americas bicentennial and I enjoyed books about American patriots: Nathan Hale, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, William Dawes. I would lose myself in writing book reports to Mrs. Burton, sharing the tales of these great American leaders and how they sacrificed and risked all that was dear to them so that they might realize their vision of building a great nation. I wound up writing dozens of book reports that year that werent even requiredmy first step down the path of geekdom.

As I grew older, my reading progressed from the Revolutionary War era to the Civil War and eventually to the Second World War. I always perceived America as a can do country, a nation of incredible progress, opportunity, ambition, and prosperity. Horace Greeley famously said, Go West, young man, and we did, exploring the frontiers of our great nation. President John F. Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon, and we did, exploring the new frontier. America has repeatedly come together militarily to face common enemies; we fought the British in 1776 and 1812, Germany in World War I, and the Axis powers in World War II, emerging victorious each time.

I have always felt that our greatest period as a nation came during World War II. Never before had we been so focused, so aligned; we came together around a clear and compelling definition of successdefeat Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo. And in achieving that success, we emerged as the worlds sole superpower. We could do anythingand we did. We saved the world from fascist tyranny. We led the world in everything that mattered.

Today, we no longer lead. America is in obvious and disturbing decline. We rank seventeenth in education.

FIGURE I-1

Irresponsible, thoughtless, and unsustainable spending is at the root of the problem. Imagine taking your family out to dinner on a Friday evening. Mom and Dad. Jimmy and Suzie. Heck, bring your in-laws as well. Nothing outrageous or extravagant for dinner: two appetizers for the table, pasta and chicken dishes for everyone, a couple of beers. And your family loves dessert, so you get three for the six of you to share.

The bill comes to $120. But as the waiter places it before you, you do something strange. You hand him two credit cards. As he eyes you quizzically, you stand up at the end of the table and raise your half-finished beer in the air. So, Ellen and I have some news to share. You might have noticed that Ellen didnt order a glass of wine tonight. Thats because were pregnant. Yes, thats right! Were going to have another baby, and were so happy youre here to share the joy with all of us. Some people at a nearby table applaud in support.

You continue on with your toast, With Jimmy and Suzie in so many activities at school, and all the vet bills for Fido, and you know we just had to get a new hot water heaterwell, were going to have to start doing things a little differently around here with another mouth to feed. Your father-in-law starts to reach for his wallet in order to pay for dinner, but you wave him off. You turn to make eye contact with a now totally befuddled waiter, What were going to do is only pay $84 toward the dinner bill on my credit card, because thats all we have money for. You point to Ellens belly. But Im going to put the restthe other $36on the babys credit card. Were going to make the baby start paying in six months for what we ate tonight. In fact, who wants coffee?

Sounds stupid, doesnt it? More than stupidits immoral. Youre foisting the bill for your own gluttony onto your unborn child. But this is what America does every single day. And lets be clear: this is what we as Americans do every day. We eat whatever we want, and we only pay 70 percent of the bill. Health-care insurance for everyoneand pay for 70 percent of it. Prescription drugs for everyoneand pay 70 percent of it. Lavish subsidies for farmersand pay 70 percent of it. We can certainly decide as a nation whether we actually want health-care coverage, free prescription drugs, farming subsidies, and many other goods and services government provides. Maybe we do want them, maybe not. But we simply cannot continue to eat a full nine-course meal when were not even paying for our entre.

Political candidates always try to frame the coming election by telling us that our nation is at a crossroads and voters need to select the kind of America they want. By any reasonable standard, that is a misrepresentation of facts. Our nation is not at a crossroads. We