"The kind of spending cuts we obviously need..."

"The kind of spending cuts we obviously need will not be easy, since our government has encouraged so many Americans to become dependent on federal programs.  These programs cannot survive much longer without a financial collapse.  Our national debt, now nine trillion dollars, does not include the unfunded liabilities to programs like Social Security and Medicare that will come due in the coming decades to the tune of another $50 trillion.  It is simply impossible to fulfill those promises.  The level of taxation necessary to fund a figure like that would destroy the American economy and dramatically shrink the productive base from which those funds could be drawn."  -Page 82 of The Revolution, A Manifesto