President Kennedy's words, "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country," lie in stark contrast to today's politics.
Last Tuesday, President Bush proposed a strong domestic agenda based on a list of new and recycled policies developed with both practical purpose and political realism in mind. Though the president was happy to explain the potential benefits of these policies, he failed to describe the real sacrifices that will be required to achieve them.
Consider Bush's healthcare plan. Replacing our current unlimited deduction of employer-sponsored healthcare with a standard deduction for all will increase the affordability of health insurance for the uninsured and self-employed while creating market restraints on the future growth of healthcare costs. As Bush explained, "this proposal would mean a substantial tax savings" for many Americans.
What he failed to explain, however, is how this deduction will be paid for. Under his proposal, those who receive employer-sponsored health insurance costing over $7,500 (or $15,000 for a family) will be subject to a real increase in their taxes. And while this increase will affect very few people at first -- only the very wealthy, those whose employers provide the best health plans and those who purchase health insurance when they are already sick -- it will hit an increasing number of people as healthcare costs continue to outpace inflation.
The result of these costs would not only be higher taxes for some, but an increased likelihood of employers offering less comprehensive coverage. Despite this disadvantage, I believe Bush's plan is a good one. But he should be willing to tell us the costs of enacting it.
Bush also offered a far-reaching energy proposal. Mandatory fuel standards, modernized fuel economy regulations, increased oil production, larger oil reserves and increased production of alternative fuels can all help to accomplish the president's goal of "reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years," which will in turn decrease energy costs (and price shocks), reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and help the environment.
But, as with his healthcare plan, his energy plan is not free of costs. New regulations and standards could weaken our economy, increased oil production can hurt our environment, larger oil reserves will raise our current gas prices and incentives for energy diversification will impose significant costs on the federal budget. Again, this does not mean that his plan was wrong, only that he failed to outline the sacrifices we must make for it to succeed.
These two examples are minor compared to our coming fiscal crisis. For the first time in his presidency, Bush has called for a balanced budget and argued that it can be achieved "without raising taxes." In the short term, the President is right. With reasonable spending constraints, we can grow ourselves out of the current budget deficit (around $250 billion) by 2021, and probably even earlier.
But this calculation ignores the two-ton gorilla of entitlement spending. As the baby boomers retire, Social Security and Medicare will begin putting massive burdens on the budget. When combined with debt payments and Medicaid, they will cost 20 percent of GDP (more than all current government spending) within the next half century.
Balancing the budget in the long term will require sacrifices from all of us. If the president believes we can do this without any tax increases, he is obligated to propose the large long-term spending cuts that will be needed in order to make these programs affordable. At minimum, he is obligated to tell the American people that their sacrifices will be felt in a real and substantial way.
Overall, I give the president's domestic policy proposals an A-, but his candor deserves a C+. Presidents must not only make the hard decisions, but also sell these decisions to the American people. As our men and women are risking their lives to stabilize Iraq, I think it is fair to ask the American people to sacrifice some of their welfare so that our troops return to a stronger and more prosperous nation.
We want to know what we can do for our country, Mr. President, and we're hoping for an answer.
--Marc Goldwein is a senior political science and economics major from Merion, Pa.
