One of the reasons I read conservative blogs rather than liberal ones is to get a different take on the current situation.

Most conservative blogs have simply gone off the deep end of criticizing every little thing that Obama does (ZOMG!!! Obama bowed to a Saudi!!! If Obama understood the holocaust, he would’ve visited Auschwitz, not Buchenwald!1!1!). But some blogs are still able to give a sensible, conservative perspective without foaming at the mouth.

Noah Millman at the The American Scene has such a perspective and today he bemoans the Republican tendency to nitpick Obama’s spending and whining about earmarks. Claiming that massive structural deficits needs a structural solution, he lists five proposals for getting america’s deficits under control.

1. Raise the retirement age.
2. Cut defense spending.
3. Reform the tax code.
4. Enact a value-added tax.
5. Sell land.

It’s a great list and (except for #4 – VAT is regressive and hard to administer) one that I wish sensible politicians of both parties would persue. Except, of course, they won’t because it’s easier to whine about earmarks.