“You can’t handle the truth!” This emphatic, yet matter-of-fact declaration of Col. Nathan Jessup climaxed the intense courtroom questioning portrayed in A Few Good Men. It also seems to be the behind the scenes belief held by those we entrust with the future of our nation. In industry, the practice is known as “Mushroom Management” — where those in charge keep their minions in the dark and just feed them manure. In politics, it has another name: Standard Operating Procedure.

There are few things upon which our Congress can muster bipartisan support. They can’t get together on healthcare, and based upon recent events, even national security will likely be debated along party lines. Still struggling in the aftermath of the banking bailout, one might think that financial reform would be a good candidate, but no, our elected “representatives” can’t move on that ground either. How about a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Stevens? Okay, I’m joking, but seriously — maybe on jobs? No freaking way; good paying jobs run counter to corporate profitability. There is, of course, bipartisan support to maintain the big-money control of government; you’ll not be seeing any meaningful campaign finance reform or rules limiting the flow of politicians into the lucrative ranks of corporate lobbyists. But when it comes to actual policy making, both parties seem to agree on one thing — the best way forward is to NEVER TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH.

On this one topic, we have widespread bipartisan support. In fact, our national leaders have artfully divvied up positions and the related talking points to ensure that we mushrooms will continue to mold. The Republicans proudly proclaim the virtue of reduced taxes, deregulation and small government. The Democrats counter that social services are essential and therefore advocate for increased government programs. Both sides have their valid points, but neither side wants to come clean on the consequences of their actions. I personally would love it if we could keep adding services while simultaneously cutting taxes, but I’m not child. I no longer believe in Santa Claus; I know you can’t keep reducing government revenues while increasing spending; I resent being continually lied to, and I want Washington to understand that I CAN handle the truth!

The truth is that we can’t afford to stay on our current path. We’re presently headed into fiscal oblivion, and I don’t think anyone is going to like it there. We need our elected officials to start leveling with us about costs and benefits, and we need an open, unbiased dialog that will allow the American people to select priorities based on facts instead of half-truths.

Of course, getting our politicians to stop their continual maneuvering and turn instead to factual discussion won’t be easy. The facts are just not very election friendly. Nobody ever got elected running on a tax-increase platform, although Ross Perot did prove that Americans will respond when shown the facts. Unfortunately, tax increases are an essential part of what will be required to pull out of our national nose dive. Our present system allows nearly half of the population to escape without paying any income tax and is in dire need of reform. But only through open and honest dialog can we ensure that such tax reform is handled in an equitable fashion.

We will also need to need to address our entitlement programs, which will mean more people paying in larger amounts to Social Security and Medicare. It will also mean extending ages of eligibility, adjusting COLA increases, and reducing benefits for certain individuals. This is all very tough medicine. It’s going to have a negative impact on a large number of Americas, which is why no politician will engage in a serious effort to address the shortages. This is the year that Social Security finally goes upside down, but it’s also an election year. I’ll not be holding my breath waiting for the politician honest and courageous enough to champion this cause.

Maybe we can at least get Congress to be honest in discussing the federal budget. Even with the huge TARP bailout, more than half of federal spending for 2009 was for the military and health (26.5% plus 5.4% interest on debt for military and 20.1% for health). With slices of the pie this large, is intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer that these areas must be addressed.

There may be some hope that military spending will soon gain a measure of scrutiny. With total costs for the two wars now over $1 trillion, and another $128 billion allocated for this fiscal year, people are beginning to take notice. Couple this huge price tag with the crippling effect the recession is having on state and local economies, and it’s likely that more and more officials like Matt Ryan, the mayor of Binghamton, New York will begin to take action. Mayor Ryan will be installing a digital “Cost of War” clock on the Binghamton City Hall. According to the Mayor, his city’s “War Tax” will reach $138.6 million by this September, and he wants the clock, “where everyone can see it, so that my constituents are urged to have a much-needed conversation.”

Conversation is always the first step, but unless our politicians can agree to check their campaign rhetoric at the door, there’s still not much hope of progress. We’ve certainly had substantial “conversation” about healthcare, the second largest slice of the federal budget. But far too much of what was communicated to the public about healthcare was either unadulterated bulldung or at the least a hedging of the truth.

It’s true that there were some bizarre stipulations in the legislation, but they are far from representative of the hyperbolic assertions made by leaders of the opposition. Sadly, the controversy surrounding the healthcare bill was centered in falsehood. Rather than discussing the real issues pertaining to passing a healthcare bill without healthcare reform, the disingenuous campaign by conservatives left a scorched earth path of misconception and false belief. Even today, in the aftermath of passage, we have asinine calls for repeal and a new wave of pro-business propaganda that will again pollute the well of public opinion.

When President Obama took office, I thought he could be the person to bring real change to Washington. My reaction to what he’s done thus far is tepid at best. From the stimulus package to the healthcare bill, President Obama has given far too much control to the Democrats in Congress. This is not to say that I think he should move right and strive for bipartisan progress, actually far from it. I believe instead that, unlike Congress, who should be held responsible to act on behalf of the constituencies who elected them, the President represents us all. The President is the only elected official in Washington in this capacity, and as such should be above partisanship. President Obama needs to face the entire nation as a nonpartisan. He needs to distinguish himself above the lies and rhetoric. He needs to look us in the eye and level with us regarding the state of the economy, and he needs to open a real conversation where we can discuss what ails us, what priorities we want to set, and how we can get back on track.

Barack Obama is the leader of the greatest country in the history of the world. He can still be amongst the greatest leaders in our history. He just needs to leave politics behind and trust that we will support him — that We the People can handle the truth.

It’s like Biblical Egypt all over again, complete with the plague of the frogs, only this time — the frogs are Us. The United States of America is in dire straits, the most dire in my lifetime. Years of party politics and pandering to special interests has left our country afloat on a sea of rising problems. Pick your issue, be it banks who rob us, insurance companies who only insure for their profits, needless wars that kill our young and stuff the pockets of the defense industry, jobs, energy, taxes, it doesn’t matter; rudderless and without a destination, America continues to sail on troubled waters. The issues are many, the stakes historical, the arguments heated near a boil, and still too many Americans don’t fully comprehend that gravity of the situation — it truly is a slow burn, and We the People ARE the frogs in the kettle.

Witness the raging debate over healthcare. Are we any better off now that the “reform” bill has passed? Are we any worse? Democrats are optimistic that we’ve moved forward on the need to provide care for more Americans, and that we’ve done so in a fiscally responsible way. Republicans insists that the bill was forced down the people’s throat; that it’s a drastic move toward socialism that will surely trigger Armageddon. Who’s correct? Left? Right?

The truth that America can’t seem to handle is that they’re both right . . . and they’re both wrong. This is a dibilitating core problem in American politics. Our present political system functions more and more like a sporting event. Sides are chosen, and it’s winner take all. This is great for entertainment value, but it totally sucks for addressing the complex issues that face our nation. Our democracy has become completely dysfunctional.

The healthcare legislation is just one example; one for which I’ve already shared my opinion. I sincerely wish it was the only example, but that’s far from the case. The process witnessed during the healthcare debate is simply the latest instance of partisan bickering and diametric opposition to exemplify our broken government. This slam dance is now standard operating procedure, and it guarantees that the real issues will never be addressed.

There is no doubt that this dynamic has crippled our democracy’s ability to serve the needs of the people. But of even greater concern is the irresponsible outcome insured by the marriage of the two warring factions. The net result of the Democrat push for increased social benefits, coupled with the Republican mantra of tax reduction, not only ensures that effective solutions are never instituted, but also serves to keep the public’s attention trained on the diversion and away from the elephant in the room.

This is nothing new for Washington politics, but the gravity of the consequences hits new levels with every passing day. The “more services/less revenue” tango has left America in denial. Little conversation occurs regarding our economic elephant. This Godzilla like beast to which I refer is the deep dark financial hole our illustrious leaders so zealously feed — a hole totaling some $56 trillion dollars as of September 30, 2008, and growing.

That’s right, $56 trillion, with a “T.” That’s nearly a half million dollars for every American household. In the words of David M. Walker, former Comptroller General of the U.S., this is like having, “a huge second or possibly third mortgage, amounting to almost ten times your annual household income.” For the moment, we do still have the World’s largest economy, but even our $14 trillion GDP pales when compared to this mounting debt and liabilities. And when you consider that the budget deficit was $1.42 trillion for fiscal 2009, a full 9.9 percent of that GDP, you get a feel for how we’re feeding our giant reptile.

Recent bailouts and the new healthcare legislation certainly add to the problem, but they alone are not the culprits. The real core issue is complete fiscal irresponsibility on the part of conservatives and liberals alike, and the bottom line is that neither side has the courage to face the music. Though, I guess this is somewhat understandable, since the song they need to play is a dirge, and the lyrics should go something like, “We’re so sorry we sold you down the river for our own personal gain.”

Yes, my fellow Americans, regardless of political affiliations, we’ve all been sold a bad bill of goods. It’s time to stop playing like ostriches, pull our heads out of the sand and take a serious look at our financial mess. Like teenagers with a new credit card, our elected officials have strapped us with a federal debt now over $12 trillion dollars, and that’s not the worst of it. It’s actually more like the tip of the iceberg. The plot sickens much further when you take a look at our unfunded obligations.

As of September 30, 2008, our unfunded obligations, consisting of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security totaled nearly $43 trillion. And since the Congress refuses to address the issue and instead continues to add to the balance, the $56 trillion hole (federal debt plus unfunded obligations) for 2008 is expected to bulge to $63 trillion for 2009.

Just in case these numbers don’t grab your attention, you might want to consider that when George W. Bush took office, the hole was a comparatively manageable $20 trillion. During his two terms as President, we had three tax cuts, started two wars, bolstered homeland security and added an extremely expensive prescription drug benefit to Medicare. The combined result of this wisdom enlarged the hole by 176 percent to the $56 trillion number that President Obama stepped into. This is what’s commonly referred to as a snowball effect, and the really scary part is that it’s just getting going.

Indeed, if left unaddressed, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) forecasts that within the next 12 years, interest payments on the federal debt will become the single largest line item in the federal budget. If left until 2040, all federal revenues would cover only the payment of said interest and Medicare/Medicaid. We’d have nothing left for defense, much less Social Security or anything else. Put another way, in order to cover the bills in 2030, our average federal tax rate of 21 percent will have to swell to as much as 45 percent. By 2040, it would be 53 percent, and that’s only the federal slice.

Needless to say, this paints a sorry picture for all of us, but left unchecked it could prove devastating to our children and grand children. All Americans should be absolutely ashamed that we’ve allowed the situation to grow so very bleak. Everybody knows that we’ve been building a house of cards, that you can’t continually reduce federal revenues (cut taxes) and at the same time increase spending (wars and services) and expect things to balance. Our elected official’s intentional obfuscation of the facts may have clouded issues, but in the end, it’s really every American who’s responsible. We’ve spent 30 years in denial and it’s high time to stand straight and face the facts.

The facts are that, contrary to common assertions, we can’t grow or inflate our way out of this big ugly. Yet, unless we want to just subscribe to the contemporary American IBG (I’ll Be Gone) ethic, we need to do our best to address the issues and to do so with some haste. Things will only get worse until we do.

Resolution obviously won’t be easy, but the good news is that we can make it happen, and we’ll all be stronger for the wear. Real patriots will take this challenge in the spirit that created our great nation. They will demand that our politicians immediately stop the destructive rhetoric, cease their incessant partisan bickering, and open a meaningful dialog to address this real and pertinent issue. And they will also accept that the way out will require that we all make sacrifices.

Thankfully, I’m not a politician, and I don’t have to worry about getting reelected, so I can tell it like it is. The fact is that big holes need big shovels, and we’ve done a lot of digging. Our way out is going to be painful. So conservatives, suck it up, because we’re going to need to raise taxes, and liberals, bite your tongues, because social programs will have to see cuts. Social Security and Medicare have to be reformed and the defense budget will need a serious overhaul. It’s time for transformational change, change that will require nonpartisan solutions. I’m sure that recovery will provide plenty to piss off every American, but the only alternative to some scorched buttocks is to just sit in the kettle and be cooked. You’ll have to make your choice. I’ve already made mine.

If you’re interested in more information, please take the time to watch I.O.U.S.A. And when you’re finished, please do get involved. You can start by taking action and writing Congress.