Now that the posturing and pontificating are over and the balanced-budget amendment is defeated, Congress can get down to its most important responsibility: balancing the budget.
Lost in much of the debate over amending the Constitution is the fact that congress always has had the power to do what it was trying to force by way of the amendment.But balancing a budget that is more than $200 billion out of kilter would require courage and the ability to make difficult decisions - the kinds of decisions many politicians are trying hard to avoid.
This in one issue that Congress won't be able to hide from, no matter how hard it runs. Either its members make the tough choices now, or they will be forced to do so during a financial crisis that almost certainly will come.
Many Democrats opposed the amendment because they wanted guarantees that the Social Security Trust Fund wouldn't be raided. But that was, at best, a weak political rock under which to seek cover.
Social Security now makes up one-fourth of government expenditures, excluding interest payments on the debt. Realistically, the budget can't be balanced without it. And a strong argument can be made for facing that reality now, rather than in a few years when the so-called baby-boom generation begins retiring. When that day comes, the retired-persons' lobby will grow exponentially and millions of retirees will begin making demands the system can't meet.
The national debt is divided into $3.6 trillion that was borrowed from the public and $1.2 trillion that was borrowed from Social Security and other trust funds. To require a balanced budget without touching Social Security would be like trying to cut the branches off a tree while not disturbing the leaves.
In fact, if the public is serious about wanting a balanced budget, it will have to get used to the idea of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, as well. When voters begin accepting those sacrifices, politicians may find the will to bring the nation's finances in line.
Many critics of the balanced-budget amendment had good arguments. They worried that the provision allowing deficit spending by a three-fifths majority vote could empower a two-fifths minority to hold the budget hostage. They argued that government needs the flexibility to deficit spend in recessionary times.
The amendment, then, was Congress' admission that it can't balance the budget without tying its own hands in other undesirable ways. But Congress could have the best of all worlds by simply making the tough decisions on its own now.
The day is rapidly approaching when entitlement programs grow to the point where they consume all federal revenues. If that happens, politicians won't be able to escape the difficult decisions.
And chances are they won't have too many kind things to say about a current group of leaders who didn't have the courage to head off the disaster.