THE FIRST BIG TEST: WHAT IS YOUR CONGRESSMAN MADE OF?

Our anger and concern over federal spending played a huge role in putting new faces in Congress. What difference will they make?

In a letter to Congress dated January 6, Treasury Secretary Geithner wrote that failure to raise the debt ceiling "would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades." This statement ignores the obvious. What Geithner, Bernanke, and the Congress have done has already had catastrophic economic consequences that will last for generations. And yet, they want more. It's never enough. According to Geithner,

Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the debt limit when necessary. Failure to raise the limit would precipitate a default by the United States. Default would effectively impose a significant and long-lasting tax on all Americans and all American businesses and could lead to the loss of millions of American jobs.

Friends, quite frankly, this is bullshit. If Congress leaves the debt ceiling where it is - $14.3 trillion - a disgrace by any standard, the federal government will be forced to cut spending. You know who decides what gets cut if the ceiling isn't raised? As it stands now, the Secretary of the Treasury and the President decide which government functions and payments to delay and I assure you they will rattle the SOCIAL SECURITY saber, the "job loss" threat, and try to terrify you in any way they can because we can never give them enough money. It's time for change.

Politicians, in order to stay in office, just keep rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. They don't need to cut Social Security. They can cut entitlement programs, they can cut bureaucratic government fat, they can cut their own salaries, they can eliminate wasteful agencies - if forced to - they could find a hundred ways to tighten the fiscal belt. But they would rather scare you and scream that the sky is falling and the world as we know it will end. It is up to us to force them to make hard choices.

The government has about another $300 billion or so to spend before the current debt ceiling is hit. Since our politicians spend money like drunken sailors, it could be as early as March when Congress is asked YET AGAIN to raise the debt ceiling.

Will your Congressman have the courage to VOTE NO TO RAISING THE DEBT CEILING? Many freshmen representatives won by promising to stop deficit spending. But with their feet to the political fire, will they have the courage to do what you sent them to do? Call or write your representative today and ask this question: WILL YOU VOTE NO TO RAISING THE DEBT CEILING? Get an answer, a 'yes' or 'no' answer, in writing.

If your representative votes to raise the debt ceiling, initiate a recall. Don't wait until 2012 to throw them out. We are burning daylight. Get him or her out immediately. Read more about recall elections and petitions. Nine states allow for the recall of federal representatives by petition, including Colorado. Educate yourself on the process now, and get ready to collect signatures and oust those who betray your trust. Period. We are done electing politicians who do not listen, and we will not wait until 2012.