In 2003, then House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) declared that “Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes.”

Nothing.

Five years into the war in Iraq, the United States is faced with unprecedented budget deficits, a rapidly falling dollar, and, according to the latest maneuverings of our president, no end in sight.

Even in 2006, before the escalation of the “surge,” the Brookings Institution reported that making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent — as he intends to do — “would add some $400 billion to the annual deficit a decade from now.” The Institution is right to place an asterisk on its figures, noting that “current deficits are not all Bush’s fault. The end of the 1990s internet bubble, the 9/11 attacks and the normal cycle of economic expansions and recessions conspired against him in his first term.”

And yet, as the group says, “We have never before cut taxes in a time of war. Indeed, there is something immoral about asking only those in harm’s way to sacrifice while so many of us, who need it least, are being rewarded with lower taxes.”

Now, with mortgage foreclosure rates skyrocketing, the American dollar plummeting and our political leadership ho-humming somewhere in the middle, Americans are finally beginning to catch on to the idea that they just might want to stroll on over to the ol’ Building and Loan for a financial checkup.

How did this happen?

Perhaps, in our search for the source of our financial ills we need look no further than our overflowing, walk-in closets, our $2,000 plasma TVs, and our feel-good hybrids that sit waxed and polished in our four-stall garages. This is the Age of Entitlement, and yes, I would like to supersize that.

Feel free to pack away that “Don’t Mess With the U.S.” coolie cup anytime, buddy.

With more information at our fingertips than ever before (thanks for the iPhone, mom and dad), it’s more than a little ironic that not just a few American high-schoolers are unable to identify Europe.

“Like, what’s a book?”

This is an era of unprecedented consumption and overwhelming (or, perhaps, underwhelming) laziness. As baby boomers begin to retire and the Veruca Salts of this next earth demand their golden geese in their flimsily constructed yet outrageously expensive designer outfits, the perception of Americans as “decent, hardworking people” is dwindling as fast as foreign reserves of U.S. dollars.

But don’t worry. Oh, don’t worry. Because it’s quite likely that Uncle Sam will be cutting us poor taxpayers a nice, fat check come springtime: the perfect solution to a problem largely brought on by… gee, what do you know? … Uncle Sam’s reckless check writing!

During a time of war.

But that’s okay. Because we know that “freedom isn’t free.” Well, of course it isn’t free: according to current military recruiting policies, freedom costs something like $10-30 thousand dollars a pop…a “bonus,” to be paid at the time of enlistment or re-signing.

Ten thousand dollars? Even 30 thousand is a slap in the face to these heros and heroines, many of whom who have no real choice in the economic and otherwise life-or-death matter.

And we sit at home, safe, secure, watching our $2,000 plasma TV, paid for in part by our precious tax cuts.

But we work so hard.

Tell that to the men and women of the Middle East – those with us and against us. We’re just taking out the trash.

There’s a lot of wrapping paper to throw out.