If I thought it would get past their spam filters -- or their staff members -- I'd e-mail this AP story on the national debt [1] to every member of Congress. They're back in session today, with a lot on the agenda [2]. But I wish the national debt was a bigger factor in congressional thinking. If it was, we wouldn't be talking about waiving paygo rules [3] to fix the alternative minimum tax. [3] There's no way to even begin getting the debt under control without getting the year-to-year budget deficit under control -- and that's not going to happen without paygo. Either we're going to start paying for the government we want, or we're going to borrow ourselves into disaster.