Fiscal elephant in the room.

Editor,

Democrats are torn between providing desperately needed services to low- and formerly middle-income families or, being Clinton Republicans, establishing fiscal discipline.

George Bush's wars are eating hundreds of billions of dollars a year, not to mention killing, maiming, and torturing thousands. A modest cut in almost one trillion dollars of on- and off-the-books military spending, say $200 billion, would provide the capability to address urgent domestic needs and serve as a foundation on which to assemble a more rational set of national priorities.