If you want to discuss America's deficit problem, you need to be familiar with this graph:
More info at the New York Times. It's created in part to show how little you accomplish with a non-defense discretionary spending freeze, but it's also instructive on the nature of government.
There's a pervasive myth that big government it some sort of mistake, and we can reduce is spending while still receiving the services we like. It's not: Government spends most of it's money on services we ask for.