Bill,
If there's one thing that the experience of writing this blog has convinced me of, it's that complex problems don't readily lend themselves to simple solutions. The diversity of American political opinion,of which you and I represent a surprisingly small part, is just too great for that. Someone will always be unhappy, and the people who are most unhappy are those at the extremes of the spectrum. That includes not only the ultra liberal wing of the Democratic party but the Tea party as well. Neither of these groups has the nations's best interest at heart, only their own ideology and the obsessions of their constituents. When a proposal like Simpson Bowles pisses off both sides, that's a sure sign that its just about right as far as I'm concerned.
I don't agree at all that we couldn't make a deal if it were left up to us. I am fact sure that we would compromise. The reality is that as proud members of the 1%, we have much more in common with each other, despite our ideological starting points, than we do with everybody else.
That said, I do not think the answer to fixing the entitlements is to throw them out and leave people to their own devices. To speak plainly, I do not want to live in a country that would generate the degree of suffering such a solution would produce, and I don't believe that you do either, your elegant assertions to the contrary notwithstanding. The answer to ineffective government isn't no government. It's effective government.
Eli
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