If Tea Party candidates are elected in November, we’ll be realistic and not expect them to dramatically change Washington, D.C., overnight.

But if this movement keeps its momentum for a few years, eventually we should expect one main thing: lower spending.

Now that will be interesting to watch.

Almost everybody wants the federal government to spend less and more wisely. Both parties have turned the outgoing cash flow into a gusher, with an earmark here and a pork barrel there.

Voters say they want programs slashed – but we don’t want our personal benefits to suffer. So, who wants to go first?

When Joe Miller, running for the U.S. Senate in Alaska, calls for ending Medicaid, that’s not a simple suggestion.

The essential question of voting has always been: Do you vote for your own interests, or for the greater interests of society? Your own interests are easy to figure out. Those greater interests get tricky. Maybe you want to help the desperate, but can’t stand the thought of all the cheaters who will take unfair advantage.

When Miller says the government shouldn’t provide unemployment compensation, that’s complicated, too. We want to slash government spending, but maybe we feel sympathy for our unemployed neighbors – and fear for our own future.

It has always been easy to find oddball allocations from the government that should be cut, but they never amount to much of a percentage. It’s also easy to find larger projects, like the “Bridge to Nowhere,” that a vast majority of Americans would love to cut, but we figure our own boondoggle will arrive soon.

Almost all of us are on the dole one way or another. The true test of character is: Are you willing to sew your own pockets shut?

Miller received modest sums from the government through the farm program back in the 1990s. It’s hard to find anyone who turns down a check.