Most people follow the deficit and debt debate the same way they follow everything else in politics: headlines, clips, and whatever reinforces what they already believe, from whichever news source they think is right. That’s a dead end if your goal is to actually influence anyone—especially people who don’t already agree with you.
What’s changed is this: you now have access to tools that can walk through the facts, the math, and the tradeoffs in minutes. Used well, AI can help you move from opinion to understanding—and from understanding to persuasion. If enough of us use AI this way, we can let our elected officials know that we know what we are talking about, push them to go beyond slogans and ideology, and influence them to get serious about working together in a bi-partisan way to address the serious long-term challenges we face.
The catch is that if you use it to confirm what you already think, you’ll just become a more polished version of the same voice people already ignore. On the other hand, if you use it to explore both sides of an issue—the real constraints, not just your preferred solutions—you become someone that can change minds. That’s the difference between adding to the noise and actually influencing outcomes.
Why This Matters for the Deficit and Debt
The federal budget is not a collection of isolated ideas. It is a system with scale, structure, and tradeoffs. Most public conversations instead focus on small cuts, symbolic policies, or single solutions that sound large but don’t come close to closing the gap.
When you understand the system, you start to see a pattern:
- The biggest drivers of spending are concentrated.
- The largest sources of revenue are already heavily tapped.
- Many popular “solutions” are too small to matter at scale.
- The real answers involve tradeoffs that are politically difficult.
If you can explain that clearly—without sounding ideological—you stand out. Together, armed with the information that matters, we can make a meaningful difference.
Don’t Just Ask—Debate
When you use AI, don’t treat it like a search engine. Don’t just ask a question, get an answer, and move on. You get sharper by pushing back on AI. Therefore, use AI like a sparring partner:
- Ask a question, then challenge the answer: “That seems high—what assumptions are driving that?”
- Push for sources and ranges, not single numbers.
- Say, “You didn’t mention X—how does that change the conclusion?”
- Force it to argue the other side: “Make the strongest case against what you just said.”
- Bring in something you already know and test it: “I’ve seen estimates closer to $75B—why the difference?”
- Ask it to show the math step by step, then look for what might be missing.
- If you see a potential bias in your AI of choice, call it out and see how AI responds.
- Ask for advice about how to respectfully and effectively debate with people you want to influence.
Go back and forth. Refine the question. Be curious and go deeper. The value isn’t in the first answer—it’s in the fifth exchange when the assumptions are exposed and the distinctions are more clear.
If you do this well, you won’t just know more. You’ll understand where the numbers come from and where they break down. You’ll be armed with more nuanced points. You’ll be ready for objections and how to handle them respectfully. That’s what makes you credible.
Sample Prompts to Get You Started
The most effective way to use AI is not to ask one-sided questions. It’s to ask paired questions that force you to understand both the opportunity and the limit. Here are 20 prompts, organized in 10 pairs. Work through both sides of each one, or the ones that interest you most. This is an initial list. Please also create your own prompts based on areas that interest you most.
- The Size of the Problem
Opportunity framing:
“What is the current U.S. deficit and debt, and how have they changed over time as a percentage of GDP?”
Constraint framing:
“What would it actually take, in dollar terms, to stabilize or reduce the debt relative to the economy?”
- Discretionary Spending Cuts
Opportunity framing:
“How much could we save by cutting discretionary spending outside of defense?”
Constraint framing:
“If all non-defense discretionary spending were eliminated, how much of the deficit would remain?”
- Entitlement Reform
Opportunity framing:
“What policy changes could improve the long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare?”
Constraint framing:
“What are the political and economic tradeoffs of those changes, and who would be affected?”
- Interest Costs
Opportunity framing:
“How much is the U.S. spending on interest, and how fast is that growing?”
Constraint framing:
“What happens to the budget if interest rates stay higher for longer?”
- Taxing High Earners
Opportunity framing:
“How much revenue comes from the top 10% and top 1% of earners?”
Constraint framing:
“How much additional revenue could realistically be raised from that group after accounting for behavior changes?”
- Capital Gains Reform
Opportunity framing:
“How much revenue could be generated by taxing capital gains as ordinary income?”
Constraint framing:
“What impact might that have on investment, economic growth, and long-term tax receipts?”
- Eliminating Waste and Fraud
Opportunity framing:
“What are credible estimates of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending?”
Constraint framing:
“What percentage of the total deficit would eliminating those actually cover?”
- Influencing Congress
Opportunity framing:
“What actions by constituents have been shown to influence members of Congress on complex policy issues like spending and deficits? Include examples of what actually gets their attention.”
Constraint framing:
“What limits the impact of constituent outreach on fiscal policy decisions, and what distinguishes efforts that are ignored from those that shape outcomes?”
- Defense Spending Tradeoffs
Opportunity framing:
“How much does the U.S. spend on defense relative to other countries, and where are the largest areas of potential savings or efficiency gains?”
Constraint framing:
“What strategic risks or tradeoffs would come with meaningful reductions in defense spending, and how much could those cuts realistically reduce the deficit?”
- Growth as a Solution
Opportunity framing:
“How does economic growth help improve the debt-to-GDP ratio?”
Constraint framing:
“What growth rates would be required to solve the deficit, and are they realistic based on history?”
Turning Knowledge Into Influence
Most people think influence comes from having the right answer. Actually, it comes from understanding the full picture and being able to explain it clearly. When you can say, “Yes, that idea helps—but here’s how much, and here’s why it’s not enough,” you change the conversation. You move it from slogans to substance.
That’s what elected officials respond to. They don’t respond to outrage or lots of form letters. They respond to clarity and pressure grounded in reality. Meanwhile, many elected officials could use a nudge to stop talking in slogans and ideology and start looking at the reality of our situation.
A Simple Way to Start
Pick one pair of prompts above—or create your own—and work through both sides. Then push on the answers. Question the assumptions, ask for the math, test alternative scenarios, and bring in anything you’ve seen that doesn’t line up. Keep going until you can explain the issue clearly, speak to the tradeoffs with confidence, and hold your own in a serious conversation or debate.
Then use what you have learned:
- In conversations with friends who are engaged but unsure.
- In emails or letters to your representatives.
- In posts that elevate the discussion instead of inflaming it.
If enough people start doing this, the conversation shifts. And when the conversation shifts, the range of what is politically possible starts to move with it. That’s the goal. Let’s all help create the conditions where our long-term challenges can actually be solved.