This week I had several opportunities to talk about the work I’ve been doing on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

Many media pundits have begun to speculate about the Commission’s final report and what it will recommend.  When asked, I am gratified I can answer that question so rapidly with, "I don't know." The Commission’s report is not due until December 1st.

I came on the Commission with high hopes, but low expectations and I have entered the process in good faith and am still happy to put everything on the table for discussion. That said I also came to this process believing that Americans are not under-taxed, but that our federal government has a spending problem.

Right now, if we stay on our present course, government over the course of the next generation will double in size from roughly 20 percent of the economy to 40 percent of the economy. We are on the verge of becoming France without the wine and the art.

If we stay on this course we will also soon be the most heavily taxed nation in the world. You cannot solve our debt and deficit crisis on the tax side and you shouldn't – It ought to be solved on the spending side.

While I continue to keep an open mind about our deliberations, I am not sure this commission was designed for success in the first place. Two thirds of the appointees are Democrats or appointed by the President – in contrast to the 9/11 Commission which was half-and-half.  But I do give credit to our leaders, a Democrat and Republican, for trying to get people on the same set of music and same set of facts.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said that the greatest threat to our national security is our national debt. While what has been accomplished so far may not seem like a lot of progress, anything we can do to continue to heighten the knowledge, and frankly, the anxiety of the American people over the peril of our national spending, deficit and debt crisis is a good thing.