I'm enjoying this exchange:

Do you have a solution for Medicare, Medicaid, and SS?

-- pete

Isn't it enough to know that private accounts are not the solution? We don't have a solution for many medical diseases either, but it seems to me that killing the patient to cure the disease is the wrong way to go.

-- Eric Kodesch

In a much less artful answer, Pete, no. But that's not really my job. I can tell you that to fix Medicare and Medicaid, a combination of big cuts and big tax increases will need to be passed to keep the programs alive through the next decade (should the American people want to continue them). Social Security, which already underwent such changes in 1983, only needs minor fixes.

But Medicare and Medicaid are not the only programs that need a combination of cuts and tax increases. The federal deficit is untenable these days, and it will only get worse in the years to come. Neither party really wants to tackle this fact. But the Republicans control Washington these days, and with great power comes great responsibility.

If the Republicans want Americans to continue to vest a great deal of power in them in future years, they will have to start making some tough decisions. The American people expect their leaders to actually fix the country's problems rather than pass them on to later generations.

This doesn't let the Democrats off of the hook. They, too, will need to come up with some solid plans. But there is no incentive for them to release many details until late summer 2006 (and in fact there are many disincentives to them doing so). My hunch is that the Democrats will come up with some gagly 17-point proposals that don't resonate with voters. But should they actually figure out a way to explain what they believe in and why they believe it in three or four points, the Republicans will be in for a mountain of trouble.