Bill Bennett suggests a Paul Ryan roadshow to help:
The gridlock is not so much in Washington as it is in the electorate and the commentariat that generally agrees we need to cut spending but then engages in cognitive dissonance the moment specific programs are identified for retrenchment. Almost everyone agrees (nearly 70%) we need to cut spending, but majorities can’t agree on cutting anything — from education to Social Security to the arts.
The ultimate truth is this: Dave Ramsey is right — every family knows it cannot go on forever with its own deficit spending, attempting minimal cuts that hardly begin to address the larger issue. The same is true for our country and its priorities. The spending cuts are simply not serious enough to deal with the problem both parties have created.
Commissions will not solve this, and bickering over the differences between $6 billion and $60 billion will not solve this. Rather, what is needed is a series of national symposia, a series of national teachable moments, outside of Washington. I suggest that the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, and whomever the Democrats would like to put up, commence a series of national debates throughout the country (make it seven, in the Lincoln-Douglas format), have them aired on the three cable networks, C-SPAN and on the internet, and see who has the best plan to restore fiscal sanity — who can win over the most minds.
The time for a truly national conversation is upon us, the time for de minimis solutions is over, and the time for the American people to make up their minds is now.