Born during Bush’s $5 trillion increase in national debt and coming of age during Obama’s $6.5 trillion increase, the Tea Party exploded into our national consciousness in 2010, producing the biggest realignment in the House of Representatives since 1948.

If every Tea Party member dropped dead today, they have already changed America.  Past discussions of deficit reduction quibbled about the need to increase taxes . . . but no longer.  (Obama was forced to make permanent the ruinous tax cuts of Bush, except for those earning over $400 thousand annually.)  Deficit discussion is now focused solely on cutting spending, with no discussion of tax increases.  The Tea Party should be happy, because, since 2010, the deficit has fallen more rapidly (percentage-wise) than any three year period since the demobilization after World War II.

But, I know of no economist who doesn’t believe that current fiscal policy, frozen in place by the Tea Party,  is retraining growth of our GDP, anywhere from 0.5% to 1.5%.  This may sound small until you realize we’re only growing about 1.5% to 2% now.  We could almost double our GDP growth, if we had a “grand bargain” and eliminated the deadening uncertainty we have now.  What would a doubled growth rate do to unemployment?  I believe the Tea Party stands in the way of any “grand bargain.”

The Tea Party fancies themselves as fearless, and it is true they have little fear of other politicians, but they are as cowardly as other politicians on the subject of cutting entitlements.  All the spending cuts caused by the Tea Party and their sequestration program are cuts to discretionary spending.  The majority of this is muscle, not fat.  We’re scalping Defense spending, infrastructure spending, and laying off food inspectors, for example.

Nobody suggests that grandma needs to be thrown in the street, but the growth in entitlements must be contained.  By 2038, entitlements will consume the entire Federal budget, that is 100% — with $0 left for the military and food inspectors.  Most cuts are easy, such as cutting Social Security payments for people like myself and limiting heroic end-of-life treatments.  Finding the courage is not easy.

If the Tea Party really wants to do something fearless and actually constructive for a change, they should stand up to Seniors like myself and introduce a discussion on entitlements.  Without that, they’re just routine, run-of-the-mill, everyday political cowards, that we already know so well.