Lindsey Graham is Refreshingly Unfiltered

That debt-reduction proposal has become anathema for Republicans because it calls for trillions in new tax revenue and, equally, anathema for Democrats because it calls for entitlement changes such as raising the Medicare eligibility age and changing the method for calculating Social Security cost-of-living increases.

Among Republican presidential candidates, the discussion of entitlement veers from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who would take on entitlements but is silent on the new revenue front, to Mike Huckabee, who termed such means-testing proposals "absolutely ridiculous" and vowed "to protect Social Security and Medicare. Period."

Among Democrats, the entitlement conversation ranges from irresponsibly absent (Hillary Clinton, who launched her 2008 bid citing "the deficits that threaten Social Security and Medicare," scarcely mentioned the issue in her economic speech) to even more irresponsibly overpromising (Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley are pressing to expand Social Security benefits).

Which leaves Graham, once again, as the candidate in the middle -- willing, he says, to press his party on the need to agree to raise taxes in order to forge a deal.

"Most Americans are one car wreck away from needing somebody's help," Graham said, invoking his own background as the guardian of his younger sister after both their parents died. "So the goal for a conservative is not just to run the government down, but to make it sustainable; ... to say that Medicare and Social Security are important for the future of the country, so important it's worth both sides giving."

Graham is surpassingly unlikely to become the GOP nominee. But his presence in the race, his willingness to press both sides on their orthodoxies, at the very least increases the likelihood that this essential conversation will occur.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.