BY MARK SCHUMANN

VERO BEACH – The current political gridlock in Washington is “better than doing more harm,” says Mary Matalin, commentator, pundit, and former advisor to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.  Matalin was in Vero Beach Saturday, appearing as the third lecturer of the season at the Emerson Center Celebrated Speakers Series.

Matalin, the wife of political commentator and former advisor to President Bill Clinton, James Carville, said she sees the country inching away from a financial abyss, “as it moves gradually closer to common sense government.”

Republicans in Congress who are determined to reform entitlement programs, such as Social Security Medicare and Medicaid, will not cut a last minute deal with President Obama and the Democrats on the looming sequester, she said.

Failing an agreement between the Obama Administration and the Republican controlled House of Representatives, $85 billion in federal spending cuts will automatically go into effect on Friday, with some domestic programs facing reductions of as much as 9 percent.  Over the remainder of the fiscal year, military programs will see cuts of up to 13 percent.

To put the cuts in perspective, though, Matalin said $85 billion represents 85 percent of the growth in federal spending in the current fiscal year.  Reductions in spending growth should not be confused with spending cuts, she said, claiming the last time the federal government actually cut its budget was 59 years ago.

According to Matalin, the average American family’s share of the national debt is now $200,000.  This burden of public indebtedness, coupled with private debt, is crushing the economy, and is the primary reason why the current recovery is the slowest, weakest rebound in three generations.

The national debt, which Matalin characterizes as “intergenerational theft,” continues to grow, primarily because of unsustainable increases in spending on entitlement programs.

Describing herself as a “constitutional conservative,” Matalin explained how, as a young adult, she was drawn to conservatism because of her surprise at how much of her pay was withheld for taxes.  “I wondered why government has to be so expensive.”

Matalin draws a distinction between advocating for smaller, more efficient, less intrusive government, as compared to simply being anti-government.  “If we were all saints, we wouldn’t need government,” she said, affirming a rightful and necessary role for limited government.

Pointing to states such as Wisconsin and Indiana, where Republican governors and legislatures have cut spending and streamlined regulations, Matalin made a case for austerity measures as being the way to stimulate economic growth and upward mobility.

The negative consequences of relying on government spending to bring about economic growth can be seen in Greece and Spain, she said, where overall unemployment rates are above 25 percent, and 50 percent among young adults.

Curtailing government “over-reach” is not new thinking, but is rather an embrace of “timeless political philosophies on the proper role and scope of government, and on what makes for responsible citizens,” Matalin said.

Though decades in the making, the current budget crisis has been made worse by further growth in spending during the Obama administration, according to Matalin.  “Spending,” she said, “is out of control.”

Answering a question from the audience about how she and her husband manage to remain happily married given their widely divergent political views, Matalin jokingly said, “We largely ignore each other.  He can’t hear, and I never did listen.”

“If he lived the way he talks, we would not still be together,” she added.

James A. Baker III, former White House chief of staff, treasury secretary and secretary of state, will speak at the Emerson Center Saturday, March 16.  Single tickets for the 7 p.m. lecture are still available.  For information call 778-5249.

Editor’s note, for more on the budget sequester read “The big sequester gamble, how badly will the cuts hurt?,” an article appearing in the Saturday edition of the Washington Post.   http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-big-sequester-gamble-how-badly-will-the-cuts-hurt/2013/02/23/be0c44e2-7c4e-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html