Until recent years, “decadent” is a word we did not often hear applied to Americans.

decadent 

adj : marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay; “a decadent life of excessive money and no sense of           responsibility”; “a group of effete self-professed intellectuals” [syn: effete]

n: a person who has fallen into a decadent state (morally or
artistically)

Where did that word come from? The Online Etymology Dictionary tells us that we derived that word from the word “decay.” Here is how they begin their study of that word.

“in a state of decline or decay (from a former condition of excellence),” 1837, from Fr. décadent, back formation from décadence (see decadence). (continued here)

Decay is an ugly thing. Not too long when an animal died as road kill near the edge of the road, road crews would come and remove the poor beast. No more. Now we leave body for vultures. Check out “road kill” vulture. Where once they were once an object of disgust, vultures now are objects of admiration (Watching the Vulture at the Road Kill).

Even more oddly, many call upon us to either indulge ourselves in decadent behavior or to admire their self-indulgence.

• Disney’s decadent dining
• Decadent Chocolate Tart
• Ralph Lauren’s Decadent “Garage” (Re: Luxury Auto Museum)
• THE DECADENT TRAVELLER

Unfortunately, the decadence that some aspire to is so perverse I will not link to it.

So why this post? Consider Senator Tom Coburn’s Waste Book 2012. In fact, consider what Senator Coburn has to say about it.

When Americans go to the polls we won’t just be making a decision about what kind of government we want. We will be making a decision about what kind of government we will tolerate. In recent elections politicians from both sides of the aisle promised to go through the budget line by line and make hard choices. That hasn’t happened. The only change Washington has been interested in is in your pocket.

This week I released my annual “Wastebook” report, featuring 100 examples of mismanagement, wasteful spending and special interest deals that illustrate just how far Washington continues to go to avoid setting priorities.

Consider a few examples: (continued here)

What is Senator Coburn’s first example? The Senate has not even bothered itself to prepare a budget. Because we have been self-indulgent, we have elected too many self-indulgent people to lead us. Do we fancy ourselves as vultures? How is it that we can preen and admire ourselves as we feed upon the dying corpse we have let country become? I don’t know. What I do know is that are wasting huge sums and leaving our children and grandchildren needlessly burdened with debt.

Consider this wisdom from Proverbs.

Proverbs 22:26-27 Good News Translation (GNT)

²⁶ Don’t promise to be responsible for someone else’s debts. ²⁷ If you should be unable to pay, they will take away even your bed.

When we elect people who borrow in our name, we become responsible for the debts they incur. When we borrow as a nation, we pass on the debts we leave unpaid to future generations. Therefore, when we decadently incur needless debt we must ask: will  creditors take away even our children’s beds? And all because their parents allowed themselves to become decadent?