As I’ve noted in the past, voters in Texas have supported a photo id bill for years at a 70{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} clip, so for all of the whining from the marginalized D’s, this really isn’t a controversial issue with anyone other than a few far left politicians, a political media that is more interested in controversy than fact, and a few middle aged white male bloggers filled with guilt because they were not born “of color”. The rest of us get it – voting is a right so important that we need to protect it.

So many people deserve credit for finally getting this passed. The Governor for making it a priority. The Lt. Governor for pushing it through the Senate post haste. Speaker Straus for picking the right person to carry it in the House. That person, Rep. Patricia Harless, for her tireless work and statesmanlike demeanor in the face of continued assaults on her own integrity. And obviously Catherine Engelbrecht and the King Street Patriots raised the issue to new heights with their True the Vote effort.

And let us not forget a few people who deserve a special thank you. The Texas Democratic Party sued the King Street Patriots and in doing so brought new media attention and outrage from thousands of Texas Tea Partiers, motivating them to lobby their representatives to vote for the bill. Thank you for your help.

And we cannot forget Fred Lewis and his ill fated Houston Votes effort. Without the problems in that group, then Tax Assessor Collector Leo Vasquez would not have had the opportunity to stand in front of the cameras and demolish any reasonable doubt that election integrity is a problem in Texas.

Lastly, a hearty thank you to those progressive bloggers that showed their complete disregard for the truth in their writing about Mr. Vasquez’s demolition. Their attacks upon him and Mrs. Engelbrecht were so nasty and vile that even a lazy press core in Harris County saw through them and finally broke their ability to drive a news cycle. For that we should all be grateful.

It sure is nice when the voters win one.

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So much to talk about, so little time.

Where and when will this monumental event take place? Tomorrow at noon, downtown at the Spaghetti Warehouse, at the regular meeting of the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club!

If you are a candidate for a city or county office and you don’t show up, well…let’s just say that you will be dealt with. I know people.

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Unfortunately, history doesn’t allow any of us to escape the time in which we live, so we need to face these events and decisions, and establish priorities. As I am watching events unfold, though, I see few people willing to take the reigns and focus seriously on setting these priorities. Even many of our Republican leaders seem to be flailing at the symptoms of our illness, rather than focusing on a proper treatment plan.

My guess is that anyone of you could come up with your own list of problems, but I believe that the three great issues of 2011 so far are our national debt; unrest throughout the Middle East; and the devastation of Japan. If we don’t make the right choices in addressing these issues this year, the consequences could create problems for the U.S. for at least a generation. So, I will deal with these in the order of importance that I see:

Our National Debt

When I say “National Debt”, I don’t just mean the debt owed by our federal government—I mean all public and private debt. Let’s take a look at of some numbers that I have gathered from multiple sources, including numbers recently compiled for Dick Morris, and by Americans For Prosperity:

• It is estimated that the total value of assets in the U.S. exceeds the total value of liabilities by about $25 trillion;
• U.S. national Gross Domestic Product—GDP—is between $14 and $15 trillion;
• Total federal-government debt is now over $14 trillion, grows at a rate of over $5 billion per day, and, over the last two years, has grown at a rate 27 times faster than over our entire history from 1789 to 2009;
• Annual federal-government expenditures exceed revenue by about $1.3 trillion;
• The State of Texas is dealing with a shortfall for the current fiscal year of $3 to $5 billion;
• The Texas Legislature also is grappling with a projected difference between what would be needed to continue state government’s current activities and projected revenue over the next two years of around $20 billion, which does not include future liabilities for outstanding bonds or unfunded pensions; and
• The total bond debt owed by just Harris County exceeds $3.4 billion, and the total bond debt owed by my local school district—Clear Creek ISD—is $1.077 billion, for an aggregate debt per Harris County resident within CCISD from just these two governmental agencies of $30,452.43 (which is more if you also live inside a municipality that is in debt).

On top of these numbers, the total private debt owed by U.S. citizens is estimated to range between $50 and $57 trillion—3 to 4 times GDP, and more than double the net worth of the country as a whole. Moreover, the price of most commodities have skyrocketed, as have unemployment and the money supply over the last two years, while average personal income has stayed flat or declined in real terms. As for the examples of local figures, these numbers don’t include the billions owed in short-term operating debt, long-term bond debt, and unfunded pension liabilities by local governments, special purpose entities (sports and convention authorities, port authorities, and transit authorities), and school districts.

Regardless of what the Paul Krugman’s of the world may say, this path is unsustainable. Unlike the 1930s, when our nation was the world’s largest creditor and held the greatest reserve of gold and other public and private assets, and could afford to incur more public debt to finance a public recovery, or unlike the 1950s when our economic wealth and industrial capacity could finance the Interstate Highway system and NASA, the U.S. in 2011 simply doesn’t have the wealth, or wealth-generating capacity to cover a continued growth in debt—or to maintain debt on this scale. We could tax the “super rich” up to their last penny, and, even if they didn’t flee to another country, the amount we would obtain would not cover more than a few months of the debt we are incurring.

We can no longer run government (including our schools), let alone our own households and business, in a “business as usual” manner. On the one hand, cuts to budgets and to social programs, no matter how draconian, will not be enough to address the problems we face; and raising the federal debt ceiling may seem prudent within the halls of the Capitol, but it is simply cowardice. On the other hand, Texas, like most states, has constitutional obligations, including the education of its 4 million students; while the federal government has constitutional obligations, including providing for our common defense—and we just can’t stop meeting these obligations.

Instead, we must stop incurring debt; we must re-structure salary, benefit and pension obligations of public workers to bring them in line with the private sector; we must set priorities for each level of government based on their core, constitutional responsibilities; we must zero-base budget for those priorities; and then we must agree on a fair system of taxation to pay for those priorities. We must find innovative private and local solutions for problems now managed by state and federal bureaucrats—innovations that will involve citizens and the private sector, including private foundations, service organizations and churches. State and federal governments can have a coordinating role to match the right people and organization to the needs of their communities, but these governments should not create, administer or pay for the resulting programs.

What is most needed, though, are leaders who will take the risk to stop this fiscal madness and set the new priorities we need. Some are emerging, like the new Governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and New Jersey. As leaders like these emerge in Washington, Austin, and locally, they will have a loyal ally and foot soldier in me.

The Middle East

In early February,

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