But America is already "feeling it." We can't continue to kick the can down the road hoping things will somehow improve in Washington. It's funny when you talk of 'diehard ideologues' because that's how many Americans view those who believe as you do. We'll just have to agree to disagree. We'll both call each other 'diehard ideologues' and leave it at that.
We did it in Canada. Canada in the mid 90s was in worse shape than America is now. We also did in my home province, where the bonds were rated junk and couldn't be purchased by the capitol city's pension fund. We did it mainly by cutting spending but we also raised taxes. It occurred when the nation realized that we couldn't continue as we were going, when ALL parties realized that they had to give.
We shouldn't do it now. We should wait until the economy is on sounder footing. But remember, Ronald Reagan raised taxes. George HW Bush raised taxes. Bill Clinton raised taxes. Tax revenues were all higher and the economy was fine. Most of the adjustment should come through spending cuts but taxes must rise. This problem will NOT get solved when a significant portion of the population is saying "Me! Me! Me! Listen to me! And only to me!"
Unfortunately, right now Americans believe that they can continue to have it all and not pay for it. This problem will get resolved when the average American gets it. They don't right now.
Maybe we need another Ross Perot, a guy who has no chance of winning but can articulate the issue and force the political parties to solve the problem.