Governor Jeb Bush Supports Simpson-Bowles

Former Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) declared his support for Simpson-Bowles in a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Times, in order to begin taking on our growing federal debt. Bush argues that the only way to lead the country on this issue was to find compromise, just as Simpson-Bowles does. Here's the key part of the interview:  

Would you have embraced Simpson-Bowles?

To save the country's fiscal future? I would.

Even though it has tax increases.

That's the part of leadership. … Our biggest problem is spending, by far. But in order to get 60 votes for entitlement reform and tax reform to revitalize our economy and create hope for people? That's what leaders are supposed to do.

Those last two lines remind us of something Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WI) said in an interview earlier this earlier this month. Speaking on the subject of leadership, Simpson argued that the ability to compromise while still holding to your core principles is exactly what politics is all about. Without that ability you simply cannot be an effective leader.

You don’t compromise yourself; you compromise an issue. There’s a hell of a lot of difference between compromising an issue and compromising yourself, and if they don’t understand that distinction, they shouldn’t really be in politics...

Anything in life is a compromise. Marriage, it’s a compromise. Raising children is a compromise. Why would you leave it out of legislating our government? It’s absurd. It doesn’t make any sense. There isn’t a person alive that doesn’t compromise every day on something without losing their identity or becoming a chicken, or a coward, or a bully.

Democrats and Republicans will disagree when it comes to taxes and spending, but it's pretty hard to disagree that our current fiscal path is unsustainable. Governor Bush recognizes that this is a problem that can't realistically be fixed with spending cuts or tax increases alone and definitely not with bipartisan support. We need to be pragmatic and find a comprehensive solution, and we hope that lawmakers will soon realize that.