The primary drivers of our growing debt burden are the “Big 3” entitlements of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Yet as part of the debt ceiling deal that created sequestration when the Super Committee failed, politicians effectively fenced off nearly two-thirds of the federal budget and the main source of our over-spending. 

Serious questions remain about the national security implications of the proposed deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. With Members of Congress essentially being asked to vote immediately to avoid defaulting on the national debt, they are also entitled to immediate and compelling answers to the defense-related questions.

Congressional leaders and the President have come to agreement on a deal to increase the debt ceiling, but the drama is far from over. The debt deal kicks all the important decisions down the road and into 2013.

Anyone who seeks to provide serious national political leadership today--those elected in 2010 or who seek national office in 2012--owe Americans a plan to escape having to choose between investing in a social welfare state or a system in which our welfare state slowly collapses under its weight. We need tectonic changes, not minor fiddling.

The bedrock issue in the debt limit struggle is whether we should have a larger and more expensive federal government.

Americans look a lot more like the Chinese than Europeans when attitudes about entrepreneurship are evaluated. Americans are also very proud of their country, but are deeply dissatisfied with the current performance and feel that the country is on the wrong track.

Under current law, the U.S. Department of Defense automatically faces significant spending cuts over the next 10 years—cuts that america's civilian and military leaders have cadidly described as "devastating" and "very high risk."

But few inside Washington think Americans are concerned about sequestration. House Armed Services Committee Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Randy Forbes (R-Va.) wants to change that. He’s embarking on the “Defending Our Defenders” national tour to conduct installation oversight and hold local town-hall meetings to better understand the real impact of sequestration.