Dear George,

Here is a copy of an e-mail I just sent to Sen. Warner, replying to his reply to mine, earlier. His response was earnest and reminded me of the hard work he's done over the last months with the Gang of Six (not his terms), to try to bring the budget and economy into some sort of long-term balance. He said we need 'fiscal discipline.' I hope that does not mean Paul Krugman's 'Pain Caucus': austerity for the poorer, unlimited breaks for the wealthy. This was my reply.

Dear Sen. Warner:

Thank you for your response. However, I wrote to you in support of arts and humanities programs, not military bands.

I do take your point about reducing the deficit and trying to stabilize the economy over the long term, as problematic as that might be. However, while acknowledging the hard, serious work you have undertaken in this matter, I must wonder what, exactly, 'fiscal discipline' means in the face of the serious, no, shocking, situation of jobless and under-employed Americans -- not to mention those in the rest of the world, whose situation in some important ways resulted from the financial shenanigans of the American 'too big to fail' financial institutions that set off the economic near-depression of 2008.

The greatest challenge we face as a nation, I would counter, depends on how we remember that all of our people are our fellow countrymen and deserve our full attention -- not simply the wealthy and their insistence on tax cuts and unlimited 'free market' aggression. It is simply inconceivable to me that increased short-term Federal spending, in the form of more stimulus, would not help benefit the greater society. We are shown reliably that the current deficit was the direct result of the Bush tax cuts (loss of revenue), the wars of choice paid for off the books (shocking waste and all), and the Republican-led, terrible deal with Big Pharma made as a 'reform' of Medicare (an insult to 'seniors' like myself and to the advantage that the government should have had in negotiating something resembling reasonable drug prices).

I am one of the many who recall full well why we now have a deficit, and how the surplus was squandered. It is terribly clear that the country is not only intractably divided in views of how we should govern ourselves, but that anything like a reasonable national debate about these matters is not happening. Worse, if possible, there is no mention of fossil-fuel caused global warming, and its likely effects on our security and financial sustainability. Your approach is reasonable, I respect your serious work, and have voted and will vote for you. But I am dismayed as I see us continue toward this dreadful path called for by the Pain Caucus, the advocates of 'fiscal austerity' just at the moment when the government is the only counterweight for a hurting population -- small business people, underemployed and jobless people, and the struggling employed middle class -- to the overstuffed corporations. This path is not my choice.

With kind regards,

Katherine McNamara (Electronic mail, July 29, 2011)