Gore favors the traditional governmental approach. Welcome to The American Prospect's Roundtable discussion. Yet this attitude is profoundly wrong. It trivializes what is certainly the most important presidential election at least since 1980 and possibly since 1968. Large differences between the two major-party candidates fully justify this statement.
Budgets are drab, but they are how our government frames decisions.
They determine whether federal policy will promote current consumption, or saving and growth. They influence how income is distributed. On both scores, the choice between George W. Bush and Al Gore is stark. Increased government spending would use up the rest of the projected surpluses. They would be even bigger winners in the succeeding decade, as provisions that favor the very wealthy, most notably repeal of the estate and gift taxes, do not take full effect until 2010.