Mr Christie Goes to Washington

There has been a lot of talk about the "Tea Party" message, the one that people want to send to Washington. This past week, the Governor of New Jersey came to the Nation's capital to send a message of his own -- if the newly elected "young turks" in Congress want to make a difference, they'll have to take some very big risks, the kind that won't win any friends. They will have to decide what the American people can live without.

In this way, Chris Christie is very much like the late President Reagan. He believes that the American people are smarter than the Government gives them credit for, that they are willing to make the tough choices, to live with the tough consequences. And America had better hope he's right, because the two biggest items in the Federal budget, the two major sacred cows, are Defense spending, and entitlements. The latter can be broken down into Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Everybody thinks that when the budget doesn't get passed, and the continuing resolution runs out, and the government shuts down, it literally shuts down. Actually, roughly half of it keeps on going, including the agency that sends your Aunt Minnie her Social Security check right on time. You think she'll take a missed check lying down?

Christie may want Americans to wait a little longer until retirement, in order for the system to remain solvent, but that's where the hard sell really begins, don't you think?

Or don't you?