Editorial: Ready to do your part for the deficit?

There's no shortage of advice for the congressional "supercommittee" now at work on a historic plan to rein in the nation's deficit spending and its $14 trillion-plus long-term debt.

Less than two months before the bipartisan task force of 12 delivers its report -- or triggers automatic cuts because it can't reach agreement -- almost every think tank has weighed in on where and how much to cut, or on how to raise new tax revenue.

Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, who headed the president's deficit task force, recently advised the committee to go big or go home -- to aim for a sweeping plan instead of the goal of $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction.

But a provocative question first asked by the Minneapolis-based Center of the American Experiment (CAE) has highlighted a critical and overlooked concern for the supercommittee: how to stimulate grass-roots buy-in among an American population that talks a good game about fiscal responsibility but consistently ducks any painful changes.

In the end, it doesn't matter what budget wonks think of the supercommittee's plan or how the Congressional Budget Office scores it. If voters don't accept it, politicians will run and hide -- just have they have for previous deficit-reduction plans -- and nothing will get done until a Greece-style crisis looms.

The CAE's question was this: "What governmental services and benefits are you personally willing to give up?" It's a timely query, because it drives home a key point: that we've all had a hand in maxing out the nation's Visa card.

As much we want to believe that waste or welfare queens are gobbling up public dollars, the reality is that we and our families, as well as our employers, benefit from the resources spent to build roads, fund education, research new medicines, safeguard food, defend the nation and protect the elderly, the disabled and the needy from deprivation.

Their responses (a sampling of which begins on the cover of this section), much like the replies the conservative think tank got from policy experts, inspire both hope and discouragement.

There is widespread acknowledgment of how serious the nation's financial situation is. And many respondents are ready to help.

An Anoka taxi driver who has diabetes and earns $22,000 a year stands out for his willingness to pay more for his medical care.

Former U.S. Rep. Tim Penny told CAE that he's purchased long-term care insurance, an individual decision that would reduce nursing home spending if more people did the same.

Others support higher taxes, means-testing entitlement programs or ratcheting down defense spending, an idea that merits high-profile discussion.

Among the CAE's experts, a disappointing number ducked the question or ignored the biggest items in the federal budget while suggesting that getting rid of the post office, not coining money or curtailing the public workforce, would do the trick.

There is, however, an overarching theme to the responses: I'm willing to do my part if others do theirs. And that is what the supercommittee needs to bear foremost in mind as it does its work.

The changes it recommends will be unpopular, and it will take time before people are comfortable with what has to happen.