Republican Party Ninth District
Mark Chastain

In case you haven't heard the recent sound bite, your share of the national debt is $29,685. The same share applies to your parents, children, friends, neighbors, grandchildren, pastor, etc. This isn't a right wing conspiracy number either; it's directly from U.S. Government websites. According to the U.S. Treasury, the total outstanding debt was $8,994,357,848,983 when I checked it (call it an even 9 trillion dollars).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population was 302,994,183. It takes some tricks to divide this out though, because most calculators won't hold a number as large as our national debt, try it. Anyone who owes or has loaned money knows that debt comes with interest too. Estimates from our federal budget show debt service (interest paid on the debt) to be $401,000,000,000. To put this in perspective, this is about $1.1 billion per day, approximately $46 million per hour, or about $12,700 per second. Just think that our Georgia legislature and Governor made a fuss over a measly couple of hundred million were they just bored? To understand how much money this is, consider this: according to the Department of Revenue, the total assessed value of all real estate, timber, equipment, vehicles, and mobile homes of all 15 counties in the 9th Congressional District total $32 billion (not even enough to pay the interest on the national debt for a month)!

Much could be said about the problems with the federal budget process (or lack thereof). Waste within antiquated programs, unchecked entitlements, earmarks and pork barrel projects are all just part of the deficit. No longer can we blame one particular party. The "tax and spend Democrats" were defeated by the "borrow and blow Republicans", but now have regained control of Congress spending more than ever.

The projects and special interests that benefit change with the party, but fiscal irresponsibility is the common denominator to both. As a nation we need to make some hard decisions, such as to no longer give farm subsidies to dead farmers, nor to pay foreign countries to be our friends. How many friends do you pay to like you? Reducing health care costs and creating a fair and efficient tax system are also integral parts of the solution.

Regardless of who you blame or how you view the budget, one thing is obvious: the national debt is a cancer growing on the American people, and must be controlled. How? In a similar national crisis of conflicting interests and ideals, a group of men laid aside all of the other interests in their lives and committed themselves to working out their differences for the survival of their beloved nation. In a hot summer in Philadelphia 220 years ago, they locked the doors and debated the issues, vowing not to leave until they had crafted the best man-made document in the history of mankind, the US Constitution. That is the kind of statesmanship and dedication that we need today. We have too many politicians in Washington, what we need are more Americans.

Mark E. Chastain, Ellijay, is self-employed and currently serves as Gilmer County Commissioner, Post 2