IT'S THE DEBT, STUPID

The combined federal, state and local government debt now exceeds the size of the U.S. economy.

Awareness of this fact, and concern over its consequences, is the number one political story of the moment, because so many voters are now linking these high deficits and enormous debt to the slow economy. Thus, stories that show the movement of states from the Democratic column to the Republicans are a good indicator of the electoral consequences of all of this.

The demonstrations by public employee union members in Madison, Wisconsin only serve to highlight the disconnect between how good the government workers have it as opposed to those in the private sector, and by that I mean middle and working class folks. This would not be a problem except for the fact that those private sector working and middle class folks know that they are paying for the generous pay, pensions and benefits through their tax dollars. They are beginning to realize that these unions, through their ability to require state employees to contribute dues, use their power to support Democratic candidates who, when elected, use their power to provide ever more generous pay and benefits to the public employees, at the expense of everything else state government does. Of course, at some point in the future the average taxpayer will be forced to realize that the very same dynamic is at play when it comes to middle-class entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.

Yet, despite it all, President Obama does not get it, and he will not, as he is a left-wing ideologue, a community organizer who never ran any kind of large organization, never had to hire or fire anyone, never had to balance a budget.

By contrast, men like Wisconsin's governor Scott Walker do understand that it takes real money to balance a budget, and that money does not grow on trees, but comes from the pockets of taxpayers.

2012 will be all about whether or not a majority of American voters want to go forward with the socialistic vision of a community organizer, or the vision of someone (hopefully) who knows how to balance a budget, and wishes for a smaller, less intrusive federal government.