Mr. McCain says the problem is government spending. He thinks he is going to cut that spending. Yet, is this not the man who said he’d support staying in Iraq for 100 years? Is this not the man who has been so excited about a war with Iran (a war which has already been declared de facto, by the way)?He may promise to cut spending on government subsidies of the arts or education, for example, but Mr. McCain will fail miserably to “cut spending” in any significant sense so long as he remains so frighteningly trigger-happy. He seems not to understand that perpetual war in the Middle East will mean a perpetually imbalanced budget back here at home, because the U.S. simply cannot afford the $340-million-per-day price tag for a protracted war and 100-year military occupation six thousand miles around the world (of course, this daily figure would only increase, and probably double or more, when the War in Iran commences in earnest).

And he wants to cut taxes on top of this? He must surely be delirious! You cannot run a clumsy war machine and a burdensome semi-socialist state — already in nearly 10 trillion dollars of debt, much of which is owed to some of the members of the “axis of evil” themselves — and expect economic prosperity and low taxes. The era of a successful military-industrial complex is long past; the long-term destruction has finally begun to surface. It would seem Mr. McCain remains blind to this truth. Perhaps he really is living back in the days of Truman — no doubt his hero.