President Bush’s presidency began with a massive tax cut that made deep inroads into federal resources. Bush repeated this with a smaller tax cut in 2003.

Now we face a crisis of resources. The federal government does not have enough money to finance an adequate homeland defense program. The government does not have the money need to adequately pay for a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, the government does not have the money to respond in vigorous fashion to a horrible disaster in New Orleans.

The nation lives in the in the shadow of the Bush tax cuts, and all the cuts that have been pursued since the 1970s as part of the conservative revolution in government. With a few exceptions (such as the 1990 and 1993 deficit reduction bills) Democrats have joined in this tax cutting frenzy, leaving politicians such as Walter Mondale hung out to dry when they questioned the agenda. In 2004, Democratic candidates proposed tax cuts for the middle and lower class rather than questioning whether we were starving the government of needed money.

This week, the effects of these choices have been clear. Today in the Washington Post, Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker have an important story that includes examples of the impact, such as Bush’s decision to support a fraction of the requests made by the Army Corps of Engineers to improve the levees that are at the heart of this week’s disaster.

The nation faces amazing challenges right now. Our leaders, in both parties, would do well to look back to the 1940s, when the government responded to international crisis by asking the nation to sacrifice, including through its pocketbooks, in difficult and trying times.