I agree it is a poorly reasoned column, and it shows Dionne's ignorance of the purpose of the Senate and who Senators were intended to represent.
But he does have a point about fiscal conservatism and that is you can't balance a budget unless expenditures=revenues plus reserves. Borrowing just delays the day of reckoning. Unfortunately the federal government hasn't had a reserve in quite a long time. So how is the government to increase revenues in the short term as well as the long term. What powers other than taxation, user fees and tariffs, does it have?
So then the debate turns to taxation policy and that is where Mr. Dionne and I part ways. He wants to just raise the rates for the rich. If the situation is that dire, I say do away with personal exemptions and leave dependent exemptions and the tiers the same.