Commentary from DEBT WATCH HARRISBURG__________ DON?T TREAD ON MErnBy PUBLIUS 2011rnIn the halls of our Nation and our City, the simple but powerful notion that governments always, always pay their debt is suddenly in question. The attack is not really partisan. While Republican leaders threaten a Democratic White House that they can and will risk a national default, our local Democratic leaders threaten State and regional Republican leaders that they may need to reject any proposal forcing the full payment of local debt. For officials and voters in both standoffs, frustration and anger boil. Torrents of moralizing lectures and reminders of one?s duty flow from the ?all-must-be-paid? camps, while a recognition that we cannot keep feeding a long, untreated fiscal disease hovers in the ?enough-is-enough? camps.rnWe need to recognize that neither side ? and perhaps no one ? understands where things stand. Some genuinely sense real danger from blindly continuing under old rules that mean all debts are honored, while their opponents see equal danger from abandoning those same rules. Is a refusal to pay public debt an act of open rebellion? Yes. The answer is obviously yes. But is a demand to pay public debt, no matter what, an act of tyranny? Again, most definitely yes.rnTeetering. Our City, and maybe even our Nation, is teetering. Bad decisions begot bad decisions, indecision and even righteous but still bad decisions, often fueled by anger.rnIn Harrisburg and in our Nation, lines are being drawn anew on just what a government should and should not undertake. Hard and uncertain times easily lead to concern that somehow, we ? the collective we ? have all gotten it wrong. People return to fundamental questions. How should government work? What purpose does government serve? How does our government function each day? What does it actually do?rnPeople of principle have long recognized the inherent value of governments working for the greater good. Those who concern themselves with the machinery of government know that over the arc of history, the workings of government in keeping societies free and insuring prosperity have made our Nation healthier, more productive and safer. Though it is unfashionable to acknowledge, governments have accomplished much, on their own and with keeping watch on behalf of citizens. The evidence: we live in a world with hospitals, roads, bridges, sewers, hot showers, electric and gas lines, telephones and cell phones, schools and research of all kinds,rnpolice and fire protections and security from foreign threats. Each of these is a resounding mark of the benefit of living in a free but governed society. Yet other societies strongly governed but denied freedom often bear the very same markers of progress. So a strong vital government that is truly of the people includes something more: a strong commitment to justice.rnWe are a Nation and a people born of ideas, destined to strive together toward ideals. Yet in current days, the thread of our well-sown ideals appears frayed, at times beyond recognition. The loosely made social agreement that has allowed us to prosper together, the quiet nods to the truth that freedom does matter, now hang at risk. Like it or not, once again, our future depends on a commitment to place justice for all over promises to a few.rnAs we are a free people founded on open rebellion, those who back the demands of tyrants ? even buttoned down and well-spoken tyrants ? should take heed. There is economic injustice afoot in Harrisburg and Washington. Those backing the work of financial tyrants who have cooped and twisted our principals of good government in order to secure their own claims to unquestioned public payment should pause and pause mightily. While all know that we face constant schemes from quislings who would avoid any fiscal obligation, the schemes of such leeches are not at work here. Not this time. Look hard. There are principled peoples who are warning, if not screaming, that all debt is not the same. All debts are not just debts.rnWe should not let those who wield unjust obligations over the public to strip true freedom from whole peoples, so to insure that tyrants can be paid. In a free world, tyrants must be foiled, always. That?s the work of the free. Make no mistake, the foot soldiers of tyrants are loose among us. They need to be identified, unmasked and ferreted out. Our governments must learn anew to recognize the agents of tyrants and refuse to do their bidding, no matter how smooth their delivery. Otherwise, a free people will be obligated once again to take upon themselves to unseat those who deny the right of justice and freedom to all people. Agents of tyranny, you know who you are . . . and you have been warned.