"And neither Ron Paul, ...nor Ronald Reagan are running for President"

Yeah, CQ, when we get the majority of troops out of Iraq, there will be a lot more $ available to pay down our debt. That is absolutely necessary. I hope we can draw down troops quickly.
Entitlement programs make up far more than 1% of gov spending, it is a significant issue. The biggest travisty, however, is the interest we pay on our national debt (and get zero for!). Thats why the next president must make spending cuts across the board. No one seems to respect that our national debt is almost 10 trillion dollars and the interest paid is one of our largest federal expenses.
The actual budget for 2007 totals $2.8 trillion. Percentages in parentheses indicate percentage change compared to 2006. This budget request is broken down by the following expenditures:
$586.1 billion (+7.0%) - Social Security
$548.8 billion (+9.0%) - Defense[2]
$394.5 billion (+12.4%) - Medicare
$294.0 billion (+2.0%) - Unemployment and welfare
$276.4 billion (+2.9%) - Medicaid and other health related
$243.7 billion (+13.4%) - Interest on debt
$89.9 billion (+1.3%) - Education and training
$76.9 billion (+8.1%) - Transportation
$72.6 billion (+5.8%) - Veterans' benefits
$43.5 billion (+9.2%) - Administration of justice
$33.1 billion (+5.7%) - Natural resources and environment
$32.5 billion (+15.4%) - Foreign affairs
$27.0 billion (+3.7%) - Agriculture
$26.8 billion (+28.7%) - Community and regional development
$25.0 billion (+4.0%) - Science and technology
$23.5 billion (+0.8%) - Energy
$20.1 billion (+11.4%) - General government