“America today faces one of the greatest threats to its existence since our founding,” writes U.S. Senator Tom Coburn in his chilling new book, “The Debt Bomb.” “The threat does not come from any foreign army or terrorist network, but from our own government and its unsustainable spending. If we don’t change course in the near future — most likely the next two years — America as we’ve known it could soon be a shell of its former self. We could face a sudden economic collapse worse than the Great Depression, or we could enter an era of managed decline and waning influence,” Coburn writes.

If Coburn’s premise is accurate, what are our nation’s leaders doing to ward off such a collapse?

Most Americans seem preoccupied by Phillip Phillips winning “American Idol” Wednesday than those citizens who are paying attention to the imminent danger around us. However, ignoring, denying or wishing the inevitable away won’t work in this case. It might be easier for Americans to think they are one of the Avengers than to focus on the real mounting fiscal crisis that threatens America’s future and way of life.

“Indeed, a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the U.S. is staring over the edge of a ‘fiscal cliff,’ in growing danger of a double-dip recession, higher unemployment, and a European-style debt crisis,” said best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg. Our debt has reached new heights of nearly $16 trillion and the Congress and president are sparring now to raise the debt ceiling by the end of this year. Raise the debt ceiling? Raising the debt ceiling is like giving a crack addict just one more hit to ease their jitters.

The U.S. has $65 trillion in unfunded federal commitments that are rapidly approaching critical mass.

In order to avoid the financial meltdowns that are looming in Europe, we need to not only read Coburn’s book, but insist that our political leaders begin showing restraint in spending and taxing our economy into bankruptcy. We’re not voting for the next American Idol, but our nation’s future. It’s time to contact our leaders and ask them to vote for America’s future.

Don’t agree? Only 30 percent of likely U.S. voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports’ national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, May 20.

—Keith Hansen