Is Medicare too sacred to touch?

The Democrats are jumping for joy at the results of a special congressional election in New York on Tuesday. While there are many factors that contributed to the win by Democrat Kathy Hochul, the prime reason coming out of the Dem spin machine was that voters rejected GOP plans to overhaul Medicare. America’s debt is spiraling out of control. We continue to spend more than we have. Entitlements are pulling in more and more of the budget. Yet the Democrats think that Medicare is untouchable. Is it?

As reported by Fox News, “The victory of Democrat Kathy Hochul over Republican Jane Corwin and third party challenger Jack Davis in New York’s 26th congressional district has intensified the debate over Medicare reform and how much of an impact Republican plans for an overhaul will have when voters head to the polls in 2012.” Hochul hammered on the Medicare issue. According to the report, “Her campaign released attack ads warning that Corwin’s support of the Paul Ryan budget plan and efforts to change Medicare would cost seniors.”

Here’s what Rep. Paul Ryan had to say about the race:

Here’s the key point. In order for the country to save itself from bankruptcy, entitlements such as Medicare MUST be addressed. In Ryan’s plan, people 55 years of age and older will not be affected. Do you hear that, Dems???

This, of course, did not stop Hochul from using classic left wing tactics of outright lying about an issue in order to scare seniors. In addition, despite what the Democrats say about Medicare in this particular race, the candidates themselves had their own issues. First, the GOP nominee, Jane Corwin, was not a good candidate. Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth, said the election was more of a referendum on a candidate’s ability to defend freedom than anything else.” The so-called Tea Party candidate in the race was also a Democrat, so when his support faded, his votes went to Hochul.

But back to the key question. Is America ready to save Medicare? Are Americans so entrenched in their entitlements that the country will just fold under the crushing weight of debt rather than fix what’s broken?

The liberals are certainly smart with these programs that originated decades ago: give Americans something for “free” (paid for by someone else), and they will never give it up. They will simply want more.

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released this week, “Most voters know they want to cut government spending in a serious way, but despite the ongoing national budget-cutting debate, they don’t seem to recognize what that’s going to take.”

The majority of U.S. federal spending is allotted to national defense, Social Security and Medicare. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 47% of Likely U.S. Voters correctly recognize that it is necessary to make major changes in those areas to make truly significant long-term cuts in government spending. Thirty-six percent (36%) don’t believe big changes in these three areas are needed, while another 17% aren’t sure.

So what’s it going to take? When will Americans realize that there is no free lunch? We can’t balance the budget and pay down the debt unless we address those items which consume most of the budget. Sounds pretty simple, right?