The budget battle has been joined. The Republicans have finally gotten the message that the country is in serious financial trouble, and are attempting to do something about it. The Democrats like things as they are. They are not about to give up their ideology and cut back on government spending. In war this would be called a meeting engagement, where two warring sides just happen to meet on a field neither had thought would be the killing ground. We have had meeting engagements before, and the result was decisive. In July of 1863, near the little Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg, two armies met head-on with the sound of boulders colliding, and when it was over one held the high ground and the other retreated, not to rise again. And so it is with the coming budget battle. On one side is the fight for slavery to the government, with deficits and economic destruction the immediate consequence of victory. On the other side is freedom.

The artist has captured the fury and sound

On canvas with strokes of his brush

The butternut line and the long stretch of ground

The stone wall they’d take with a rush

The names still ring loud, Pickett, Longstreet and Meade

Jeb Stuart and Reynolds and Hill

Marse Robert so calm on his gray painted steed

Convinced ‘twas a matter of will

And yes so it was, and yes so it is still

The names will ring down ever more

Will we have the false dawn of a Chancellorsville

Or will Gettysburg freedom ensure

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