Are we willing to do what it takes?

As the protests in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin concerning the collective bargaining rights of public employees continue on, I found myself thinking two things.
First, are we, as a nation, willing to accept the harsh realities of a serious budget cut?  And, second, do we trust the people in charge enough to make the cuts?
You’ve heard this refrain before, but the country is in serious financial trouble.  Our deficit is massive and growing.  Our dollar is growing weaker by the day.  We’re in substantial debt to China and other lenders.  If we don’t change our ways in a meaningful fashion, we’ll find ourselves—in a number of years—with a budget that is dominated by social security, medicare, interest on our debt and defense.  We probably won’t have the money to cover those four things, and if we do, there’s almost no way we’d be able to pay for any other function of government.
Cuts must occur.  It’s time.  The government, by our own desire, has grown out of control.  The government doesn’t just grow on a whim; people want it to.  We have elected people on both sides of the aisle to give us things we want, be it more national defense or more entitlements.
Add that to our government’s “kick the can down the road” philosophy for problem solving and we find ourselves in a serious situation.  The can won’t go much further down the road.  The time is now to make the necessary adjustments.
The protests in this country aren’t violent and shouldn’t be.  But it raises a question.  In November, people in this country did seem to vote for more Libertarian-influenced people into office.  The idea seemed to be, “we don’t want to spend this kind of money anymore.”  I think most people would agree that running a gargantuan deficit is not a good thing.
But what happens when the cuts come to your doorstep?  What about when your newly elected Governor decides that removing collective bargaining rights is necessary?  Do you just nod your head and accept it?  People in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin aren’t.
Should they?  I don’t know.  As much as I believe that steep cuts (such as the ones offered up by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, in the neighborhood of $500 billion) are necessary, do I trust our politicians to do things in a just and uncorrupt way?
As uncomfortable as it makes me feel, I think we have to.  This is what a republic is all about.