A Word About Senator Tom

Meant to say something about this before now.

Senator Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, tried to shame his Senate colleagues into rescinding several hundred MILLION dollars in congressional pork -- particular focus on the $223 million "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska and on a sister project, a $250 million down payment. His reasoning: the United States government needs the money for more pressing problems in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The response: several mad-as-hell senators and an 82-15 vote AGAINST Coburn's bill.

One of the Alaska bridges, dubbed the "Bridge to Nowhere" by its critics, would connect one small town to a tiny island. It received $223 million in the highway bill that Congress passed this summer. The second bridge, named "Don Young's Way" in honor of its patron, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska), received about $230 million -- but that is just a down payment on a cost that could hit $1.5 billion.

Coburn had wanted to shift all the money to the I-10 rebuilding project, which is expected to cost $500 million to $600 million. Because of restrictions in the way highway dollars are distributed, Coburn's amendment would have redirected $75 million to the Pontchartrain bridge while unfunding the two Alaska bridges.

"I believe that we should spend taxpayer dollars where they are most needed," Coburn wrote fellow senators asking for support.

The amendment became a cause celebre on the left and the right, with watchdog and conservative groups reporting updates on their Web sites throughout the day. The Club for Growth alerted readers early yesterday on its Web log, or blog: "As of last night, the opposition is putting up a big fight. They sense this amendment, if successful, as establishing a precedent. A precedent where all pork is vulnerable and no lawmaker is safe."

Senators are safe for the moment.

Several Oklahoma bloggers are asking whether Coburn just assigned himself to the ashheap of senate insignificance, since one of the seriously aggravated senators was fellow Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe.

Perhaps. But that's the kind of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" that all of us are against when it happens in Oklahoma City or within the Tulsa City Council. It's the rationale that takes the "guts" right out of our politicians and turn them into gutless wonders. It's a big reason why so many Americans, of all persuasions liberal and conservative, have such a low opinion of politicians.

For several decades the United States has had an economy that has made possible extreme profligacy at all levels of government. In simple terms, we could afford to the debt service on our growing national, and private, debts. There are many worrisome signs that the day is swiftly coming when that will no longer be true. It is probable that we are nearing critical mass on deficit spending -- from Dad's seven maxed out credit cards to Uncle Sam's maxed out balance of trade. All it takes to topple the house of cards is for someone to say "no" the next time they are asked to buy more American debt.

The only way to avoid that fate is to learn the ways of fiscal responsibility. Tom Coburn would like to apply those lessons to the federal government. He is correct in wanting to do so.

If he pays a price for his effort, we suspect it is a price he is willing to pay.

What he will not lose is our vote, or the votes of many Oklahoma citizens who agree with him that it is time to trim back.