The budget impasse in Washington, which might well be ended by the time this column is published, is an excellent opportunity to assess how far this nation has strayed from its Founding Fathers' vision of a free and prosperous land.

It first must be pointed out that the failure of the federal government to agree to a spending measure to enable the bureaucratic machine to continue chugging along is perfectly compatible with the balance of powers so cleverly forged in our Constitution.

Far from a train wreck, the government shutdown is precisely what should occur when the executive and legislative branches' visions of government's reach collide.

But this collision is no head-on wreck. It's a mere fender-bender, because the two sides' visions aren't that different.

The president wants to slightly lower Medicare premiums; the Congress wants to slightly raise them. The president wants to balance the budget without tax cuts; the Republicans in Congress demand tax relief. One proposal balances the budget in 10 years, another in seven.

The head-on train wreck would occur only if one side sought to balance the budget next year, and if one side, rather than trim the growth of so-called entitlements, instead phased out entirely Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

But that hasn't happened. Yet the GOP fails to counter effectively the raving Democrats who insist those who want to balance the budget are cruel and heartless.

I'm of the mind that President Clinton should veto the Republican budget, but only on the grounds that it doesn't go far enough to pare unconstitutional redistribution of capital. Of course the president and Democrats in Congress oppose the GOP budget for much different reasons. They say even minor reductions in government growth go too far and that the poor, the middle class and the elderly will suffer from the plan.

But the budget must be balanced if we're to forgo burdening our children and their children with an overwhelming debt and tax rates that will approach 70 percent or 80 percent of income.

Instead of balancing the budget in seven years -- no one seems to realize that we need to operate government with excess funds equal or exceeding the deficits of the past two decades to pay off the national debt -- Washington shuts down for a few days while politicians bicker over a mere speed bump on the Autobahn of government growth.

Democrats were reduced to speaking of the one million people who "were hurt by the Republican government shutdown" on its first day. Who are these million? Well 800,000, according to House Minority Whip David Bonier of Michigan, are those who were turned away from national parks and monuments. Goodness, you mean, Mr. Bonier, that vacations were ruined because those darn Republicans want to keep from afflicting the next generation with a multitrillion-dollar debt?

What about the opportunity for the government to do what every bill-paying, responsible taxpayer must do each month and balance its checkbook?

Where are the conservatives to espouse the optimism that balancing the budget should inhere. Even if it doesn't go far enough, there remains great cause for optimism in the Republican budget plan.

The tax cuts -- a $500 tax credit for each child in a taxpaying household -- from which we are to believe only the rich will benefit, actually will help 52 million children.

Who is being selfish here? The Republicans for wanting to give 22 million households a little more of their hard-earned cash back at the end of the year, or the senior citizen lobby whining about an $8 per month increase in Medicare premiums?

Do we want a national debt that exceeds our gross domestic output? Do we want bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs? Do we want an economy that putters along under the burden of government taxes and regulations? Or do we want a nation where people are free to prosper free of the burdensome yoke of federal government?

The Republican budget is no panacea for this nation's many ills. It is but a wobbly step in the right direction. But even a tiny step is better than stumbling blindly into fiscal oblivion.

~Jay Eastlick is the news editor of the Southeast Missourian.