Stop Calling It National Debt!
It’s Not NATIONAL on Multiple Levels
Words matter. Especially when those words are being used to saddle you with $36 trillion in debt that isn’t yours. That’s exactly what’s happening every time someone uses the phrase “national debt” instead of calling it what it really is – Federal debt.
This isn’t just splitting hairs over terminology. The distinction between “national” and “Federal” debt strikes at the heart of who’s actually responsible for this fiscal nightmare. When we call it “national” debt, we’re buying into the fiction that somehow we’re all equally responsible for Washington’s spending addiction. We’re not.
Think about what the word “national” actually means. A nation is its people. It’s the States. It’s our communities. The Federal Government isn’t the nation – it’s just a governing body that was created by the States to handle specific, limited functions. But by labeling their debt “national,” they’ve pulled off an amazing feat of linguistic sleight-of-hand. They’ve convinced everyone that their spending problem is somehow all of America’s spending problem.
Here’s the reality…