The national debt debate has uncovered a puzzling set of poor national priorities, where health access and equity for all doesn’t qualify as a need, but as a luxury that can be sacrificed in the name of balancing the budget. The debt crisis has forced us to think fundamentally about what the role of government is, because those essential tasks, those that are absolutely essential to our well being as people, cannot be sacrificed. What was supposed to be a discussion about how to make our government better equipped to act on behalf of its citizenry has descended into a debate for the sake of debate, as if there aren’t families who suffer when certain initiatives and programs are cut.