Jonathan B. Wight

Suppose Harry and Susan debate whether to add a sun porch onto their home.

"Can we afford it?" Harry asks.

"Yes," Susan responds, "if we draw on the equity line at the bank that we set up last year."

"But still," Harry counters, "we will have to pay that back someday."

"Sure we will, but we'll both have better jobs in the future, and paying it back will be easier then."

Conversation concluded, the couple hires a contractor and the sun porch addition is carried out. At the end of the month the bill comes due. Harry reaches into his bankbook for the equity line checks.

"What are you doing?" Susan exclaims. "You don't expect us to actually pay for that!"

This is the sad state of American politics: Congress creates the budget by setting the spending and revenue constraints. Now that the bill is due, many Congresspeople are unilaterally refusing to honor the debts they piled up. The fallout from this fiasco extends beyond federal borrowing to individual states like Virginia.

This is shameful, dishonest, and hypocritical. May there be no mercy at the next polls.