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Ramesh Ponnuru’s piece on the federal budget in the latest NR print edition (May 14) is excellent, informative, and to the point. Because of the design of current entitlement programs and current tax law, the federal government is going to get a lot bigger and costlier in the coming few decades unless substantial reforms are enacted soon. If I didn’t have such strong libertarian inclinations, I’d consider making the article’s perusal mandatory. The gist:

Conservatives have generally been hostile to the idea of striking a deal with Democrats, because they know that a deal will probably involve tax increases. And it is true that a deal that causes taxes to rise even more than they already will is unlikely to be worth making. But we should also remember that the absence of a deal does not protect us from tax increases: it guarantees them. As things stand, conservatives are set to lose the political battles over limited government for the next generation, before they have even fired a shot.

It’s a typically insightful Rameshing — by which I mean a well-reasoned, clear explanation of a complex public-policy issue that challenges the conventional wisdom, particularly of the conservative variety. In case there is any lingering ambiguity: I really dug it.

Subscribers, don’t miss it. Non-subscribers, subscribe now.

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