Eric Cantor (R-VA) Introduces YouCut - It's a Start

Virginia's Eric Cantor has created an interesting new site: YouCut. Here you can vote on a weekly list of government programs and subsidies to cut. The winner gets brought to the House floor for an up or down vote.

I'll let Representative Cantor explain it:

We all know that Washington has a spending problem – and both Democrats AND Republicans bear some responsibility. But as I wrote last week, America is at a crossroads and the choices we make at this critical time will determine what kind of country we want to be. To get back on the right path, Congress MUST start to make some choices that simply can’t be delayed any longer.

So far, so good.

While we won’t be able to solve our deficit problems overnight or with one silver bullet, we CAN and we MUST begin to replace the culture of spending that now dominates Washington with a culture of savings. Just imagine if your government was as focused on saving money as it is on spending money. Imagine if Congress spent less time naming post offices – 62 and counting – and more time reducing wasteful spending. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Why yes, yes it does, Mr. Cantor. The unfortunate part of your statement is that, right now, all we can do is imagine a responsive Washington, one that's in tune with the wishes of the majority of Americans. If this were the case, we wouldn't be staring down the barrel of a Greece-like financial meltdown here.

The wrtiting is on the wall, metaphorically speaking. We're seeing the collapse of the European welfare state in real time. Too many entitlements and unrealistic retirement pensions have brought Europe to the edge of fiscal disaster. Unions are organizing bloody protests that have turned deadly. (As an aside, this blog wonders what would happen here if someone died as a direct result of a union-organized protest that ended in the death of an innocent bystander. Could the union leaders and organizers be brought up on criminal charges?)

There is only one way to prevent a financial meltdown here: cut spending. And I'm speaking of real cuts in programs. perhaps eliminating entire departments, not merely a cut in the rate of spending increases that "progressives" scream so loudly about.

Curiously, not everyone is a fan of Cantor's effort. Allahpundit over at Hot Air calls it a "gimmick".

On the surface, this appears to be a good beginning. Remember, if you're reading this blog (and I'm talking to both of you), you're in the minority of Americans. Most are not well-versed in the goings-on in Washington. That's where Cantor's site has the most potential. I consider it an introduction to some of the ways our tax money is misspent.

Any effort to educate the public and get you more involved in politics is a good thing.