"The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is the slave of the lender." (Proverbs 22:7)

WASHINGTON (BP)--In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, King Solomon details the differences in thought, word and deed between a wise man and a fool. In addressing the foolishness associated with borrowing money, he makes clear the relationship between debt and servitude: No man can truly be free when he is bound by financial indebtedness to another. It's clear, however, that the danger of debt is something a majority of the American people -- including members of Congress and our president -- have yet to take seriously. Even though our national debt is spiraling out of control, we appear unwilling to change our spendthrift ways.

In December Congress took action to increase our national debt limit by $290 billion -- bringing our debt ceiling to a whopping $12.4 trillion. This, after two years of unprecedented spending during which time we accrued the same amount of debt that we accumulated in the first 200 years of our nation's history. No matter how much money Uncle Sam extracts for his coffers, however, it appears it's never enough. The demand for entitlements continues to grow and liberals in government are only too willing to accommodate that demand by expanding the power of the nanny state.

Contemporary society has been taught that when it comes to the world of finance, credit is king. Credit, we are told, is how we finance the good life. When Gordon Gekko told us that greed was good, we apparently believed him, and set about to prove his point. But, as the old saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The United States cannot continue on this path of fiscal gluttony indefinitely. With every dollar we borrow, we sacrifice more and more of our freedom.

As individuals, we've come to rely increasingly on those credit cards in our wallets, charging 40 cents out of every dollar we spend. We finance everything: our homes, our vehicles, our educations, our entertainment -- even basic essentials like food and clothing are more often than not purchased on credit in today's marketplace.

As a nation, we've racked up nearly $12 trillion in debt and have seen the budget deficit soar from $455 billion to $1.4 trillion in the last year alone. And in the same way a strapped homeowner takes out a second mortgage on his house to stave off financial ruin for one more year, Congress has time and again -- in the name of the people's "general welfare" no less -- voted to take on more and more debt to fund a ballooning list of appropriations and entitlements.