National Debt To Reach $16 Trilllion During The DNC -- But No Debt Clock Inside Their Arena

There will be something missing from the Time Warner Cable Arena during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) being held this week in Charlotte, NC.

However, this “something” was prominently displayed at the Republican National Convention (RNC) inside the Tampa Bay Forum as an integral part of the convention messaging and set design. It was the real time running of the National Debt Clock, and as I sat in the Forum for three straight nights listening to all the speeches, my eyes were fixated on the flickering digital numbers and I took this photo the evening Mitt Romney spoke.

An appropriate nick-name for the National Debt Clock could be the “Ticking Time Bomb of Doom,” for as long as these numbers keep flickering higher and faster, our national demise becomes more imminent.

Now, more proof that God just might be a Republican (besides the rain damage He inflicted upon Obama’s massive sand sculpture at the DNC) is that our national debt is scheduled to reach the milestone of  $16 trillion sometime this week while the Democratic National Convention is in session.

Who else could have arranged for such a cosmic coincidence to occur precisely on cue, bringing further attention to the Republican message of fiscal restraint?

But does anyone really believe that when the clock strikes $16 trillion, the DNC will stop for a moment of silence and pay tribute to the millions of yet-to-be-born American babies who will be saddled with this enormous debt burden?

It is also important to note that no nation in the history of the world has ever been so deep in hock.  The USA has truly “won the gold” in this event and inside the DNC the national anthem should be played.

But since none of this will happen, here is another idea worth considering.

With the National Debt Clock not running in real time inside the DNC arena, the Republicans should move their portable debt clock from Tampa to Charlotte.

Then when the clock strikes $16 trillion a Republican media event could be staged to pressure the leaders inside the DNC arena to acknowledge the milestone and what this means for all the “investments in the future” they will have been talking about all week.

And of course the mainstream media will cooperate with the Republicans by giving the $16 trillion debt issue the appropriate amount of airtime it so richly deserves.

OK, I admit, none of this is likely to happen at the DNC, so I will end this dream sequence with a real personal experience.

Last Wednesday night at the RNC during Paul Ryan’s VP acceptance speech, I was standing in one of the narrow press area stairways with a great view of the podium when two men began to set up for a live news report about five inches from my nose.

The well dressed handsome man doing the live shot had an English accent but there were no markings on his microphone to indicate what news organization he was representing.  His one minute news report went like this:  “Paul Ryan is a young congressman who is very popular with this crowd, but he may be too radical for independent voters. This is (did not get name) reporting from Al Jazeera.”

After Mr. Al Jezeera turned off his microphone I said, “I totally disagree with your last statement.” He firmly replied, “Too bad,” and quickly walked away.

Since Paul Ryan is campaigning with policy proposals aimed at trying to slow the ever-increasing speed of the national debt clock, he is my kind of “radical.”

Every American voter should be aware that it is only the “radicals” who are prepared to confront and disarm the dangerous ticking time bomb and it is doubtful you will find any such “radicals” or the debt clock itself inside the DNC arena this week.