It has become a parable of modern life that any family making payments on one credit card by debiting another will spiral toward bankruptcy.

In older times, we would say that a person who burns the walls of his house for firewood sacrifices his shelter against future storms.

A dairy farmer who sells cows to survive a bad market will have less milk to sell when the price recovers.

A distressed factory that sells its equipment at sacrifice prices will have no products to make when the market rebounds.

When Maine was short on revenue two years ago, the governor sold off the state’s liquor business for $125 million and spent all the money. The state is now losing nearly $30 million a year because profits on liquor are now retained by the monopoly contractor who bought the state’s rights.

Even so, total state revenue increased this year over last. But because spending by the state grew so much faster, a large divide opened up. To fill the gap, the governor is now selling off the lottery for $447 million and spending most of the money to meet current costs. To pay the debt, the state will lose $44 million a year in lottery revenue for 14 years. But payments on principal won’t begin until two years from now, well after the next election.

This budget, enacted by a thin majority, doubled Maine’s bonded debt without the public approval that the constitution requires.

Meanwhile, the governor has proudly announced an expansion of Medicaid to buy health insurance for households earning as much as $39,000 a year. He has recently endorsed a Pine Tree Zone program to cut taxes for new businesses that compete with older businesses struggling to pay theirs. He has offered to reduce income and property taxes while paying for the cuts with borrowed money.

There are only two honest ways to address a burgeoning deficit: cut spending or raise revenue.

Many legislators on both sides of the aisle have offered to do either one – or even some of each – to avoid a constitutional crisis over this freefalling auction of state revenues.

There is hard work to be done and none of it pleasant. But avoiding pain is no answer. Things will only get worse if we continue to sell off our seed corn.

People who understand this concept are signing petitions to veto the borrowing. They believe you Don’t Mortgage ME.

Sen. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, is an 11-year veteran of the Maine Legislature and a sponsor of http://www.dontmortgageme.com/