I share much of that sentiment, but good luck trying to sell it; the last guy who tried watched his approval rating drop 20 points as a result, so before you trot it out you better put a muzzle on the former governor of Alaska (not that that's a bad idea on principle). That ain't what's bankrupting Medicare though; its costs are only growing about a third as fast as private medical insurance.

It ain't what's driving our debt either, at least, not by itself. Yes, we need entitlement cuts, but we also need tax hikes, and people who think we can just slash all the stuff they don't need (or think they don't) and leave their personal pet issues alone are the reason we're in this mess. For thirty years we've watched the debt sore and done nothing except borrow more money (much of it from the Social Security trust fun that's so finanicially unfeasible that it had money to spare throughout those decades). All because every attempt to eliminate deficits was caught between the Scylla of seniors who reject entitlement and the wealthy who reject tax hikes. Well, guess what, it's a national problem, and the nation will have to bear the burden of solving it, together. If you think socialism and want to opt out go buy yourself an island somewhere you can; if you can't do that, consider the possibility you've miscalculated where your interests (and your familys) lie. The notion that we need only take care of large businesses and they'll take care of everyone else was always laughable, and died with American unions anyway.