By PETE DU PONT

"If we're going to raise revenue and if we're going to raise it in any form, then we darn well better cut spending, because spending is the biggest part of this problem," said Erskine Bowles, Bill Clinton's onetime chief of staff, earlier this month. The most important words in American public policy today should be "we darn well better cut spending."

Unfortunately, most of the conversations about the fiscal cliff miss this point. They center not on how much spending should decrease but how much taxes should increase. That bodes ill for America's economic growth and global competitiveness.

No nation can compete globally with such levels of spending and debt. American businesses and families have done what they always do in lean economic times: cut back and prioritize their spending. It is time for the federal government—and many state governments—to do the same. We must get federal spending back down to around 18% to 20% of GDP and can do so by getting our priorities straight.

Instead of debating whose taxes should go up, we should be talking about how to keep everyone's tax rates as low as possible. And we should be talking about the major steps needed to removes obstacles to our long-term economic health and competitiveness, not just small change to avert an immediate crisis.

We must focus on four areas that are central to the long-term challenges we face: reducing the amount our government spends to more reasonable levels, reforming entitlements to keep those important programs healthy for future generations, reforming the tax code to make it an efficient engine for economic growth, and unleashing America's energy potential.

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