We got into the spending mess the old fashion way … lying to ourselves about what we wished to be true but was false.

For a long time we lamented Democrats taxing more and spending more. Republicans made it a mantra that hung over the entire Democratic Party.

Republicans then discovered a different path to bad governing fiscally — borrow and spend.

Borrow and spend was appealing because the one thing always true of Americans is that we like our taxes lowered and lowered and lowered. So we liked the Republicans feeding us an unending diet of lower and lower taxes.

But, since the Reagan presidency, the tax cuts were accompanied by spending increases and debt and deficit increases.

Ultimately, under President Bush we fought two wars while cutting taxes, added Medicare Part D while cutting taxes, and funded TARP while cutting taxes.

When Obama became president during the Great Recession he then immediately cut taxes and further increased spending.

And guess what happened from 30 years dominated by borrow and spend? It did not work.

We could have learned from the experience a few things first, that cutting taxes on business to create jobs does not create jobs, it merely reduces treasury revenue.

We could have learned that the Laffer Curve, a conservative witch doctor prescription about taxation, was really a laugher after all, funny but not to be taken seriously.

Cutting taxes inevitably resulted not in increasing treasury revenues but in reducing those revenues compared to that which would have been collected had the taxes remained in place.

So now we need to get spending under control and how is that working? Not so well.

Republicans, determined to prove they are really the frugal stewards or today, not the big deficit creators of yesterday, are honestly eager and excited to get to work cutting spending.

Democrats can’t seem to find anything to cut and are, like the dinner partner too slow to reach for his wallet, preferring to wait to let the Republicans start the conversation.

So we have Republicans, led by the sometimes nutty and radical Tea Party folks, ready to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, heating aid, schools support, help for the mentally disadvantaged, and just about anyone too helpless to fight back.

But when it comes to business and the military, then the Republicans look for their wallet forever, never finding the reason to think about such exercises and unable to name anything more than additional benefits.

But the people of America have something to say about what should and should not be cut. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, conducted by a Republican pollster and a Democratic pollster, reveal the smart path to spending cuts.

First, fewer than 25 percent of Americans want cuts in Social Security, Medicare and K-12 education. Only 32 percent want cuts in Medicaid.

The most popular programs for cutting according to Americans are increasing the taxes on Americans who make more than $1 million a year (81 percent agree); stopping earmarks (78 percent); ending funding for weapons systems not needed by defense (76 percent); and ending tax credits for the oil and gas industries (74 percent).

So let the cutting begin, and let the people be heard.

Americans also indicated in the same polling that they want state union members to contribute more to their pensions and health care but they also believe (77 percent) that these unions should have the same collective bargaining rights as private unions.

It seems the message is clear: Do not balance the budgets on the backs of working Americans or deny collective bargaining to public employee unions.

The people are right.

Jim Crawford is retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.