Марк Санфорд призвал к созданию некоммерческой организации для борьбы с госдолгом США, превысившим 40 триллионов долларов

Two weeks ago, our 19-day campaign came to an end. It was brief, unconventional and, in many ways, improbable. But I will always be grateful for the kindness people showed along the way — for the hands extended, the prayers offered and the honest conversations shared. To everyone who listened, volunteered, contributed, encouraged me or simply offered a kind word: Thank you. An election determines who holds office. It does not determine whether an idea is right. The central idea behind our campaign was that America’s financial course is unsustainable — and that Washington’s refusal to confront it is steadily diminishing the American Dream. That cause did not end on Election Day. Indeed, it became even more urgent this past week week as our national debt crossed $40 trillion. Forty trillion is almost impossible to comprehend. It is more than $300,000 for every American household. But the real significance is not the number itself. It is what that number does to the life of every American — young or old, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat. Washington’s spending habits are directly connected to the affordability crisis families feel every day. Government spends dollars it does not have, borrows the difference and, over time, adds pressure to interest rates and the value of the dollar. The result shows up in mortgage payments, automobile loans, rent, groceries and insurance. Inflation is not some mysterious force that descends on the country from nowhere. It has many causes, but government spending and borrowing are among them. When Washington injects more borrowed money into the economy without a corresponding increase in goods and services, more dollars chase the same things. Every existing dollar buys a little less. That is why debt is not simply an accounting issue. It is an affordability issue. It is also a generational issue. We are sending young people into an economy in which buying a first home, raising children and saving for the future have become increasingly difficult. Then, on top of that, we are handing them the bill for promises we made and spending from which they may never benefit. What parents or grandparents would knowingly run up a credit card and leave it for their children to pay? Yet collectively, that is exactly what is happening. The debt matters just as much to older Americans. Social Security and Medicare are promises on which millions rely, yet they are projected to go bankrupt in little more than five years. Promises become less secure when the government making them is already borrowing over $2 trillion a year. The debt is also a national-security issue. The thesis of Paul Kennedy’s book “The Rise and Fall of Great Powers” is that no country can maintain military supremacy without maintaining economic supremacy. Tragically we now spend as much on interest as we do on our national defense. This year, net interest costs are expected to exceed spending on every federal program except Social Security and Medicare. Interest cost is the fastest growing category of federal spending, as Washington now borrows roughly 26 cents of every dollar it spends. Perhaps most fundamentally, debt is about freedom. The more dependent America becomes on borrowed money, the less control we retain over our own future. Markets and lenders ultimately impose discipline when elected leaders refuse to do so — and their discipline is rarely gentle. This is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem. Both parties helped create it. Republicans have too often talked about restraint while voting for more spending. Democrats have too often treated every government program as indispensable. Both have found it easier to borrow than to tell voters the truth, yet arithmetic is not partisan. Interest compounds regardless of who occupies the White House and Congress. And every generation eventually pays for what the previous generation refused to confront. That is why I intend to continue this work by establishing a nonprofit organization focused on debt, deficits and government spending. Its purpose will not be to advance a party or a candidacy. It will be to advance an idea: that financial stewardship is essential to preserving opportunity, independence and the American Dream. I hope you will join me in this cause, because too many have sacrificed too much over the years for us to simply follow in the long line of civilizations across the pages of time that have sacrificed themselves on the altar of unsustainable spending. Elected officials need to be reminded that balancing priorities is not cruelty. It is governing. America has faced larger tests than this. We have always possessed the ingenuity and productive capacity to solve difficult problems. What we currently lack is not the ability to act, but the political will to begin, and at $40 trillion — and counting — our collective voices are vital in insisting on the political will to begin. I hope you will join us. Mark Sanford is a former S.C. governor and U.S. House member who just finished fourth in a crowded field for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.