The millions of Americans who have gone to the polls may not realize it, but another candidate was hiding on every ballot: the debt.

Before politicians decide which promises to keep or break, they will contend with the inescapable and rapidly mounting burdens imposed by the federal debt.

At just under $36 trillion, or over $270,000 per household, the national debt has become America’s second mortgage. Though often mistakenly viewed as simply a burden on future generations, the debt is both an echo of damage done to the economy and of damage to come.

Though owed by the federal government, it is truly the national debt. Its cost is both a once and future burden on every American.

The debt is a byproduct of an expansionist federal government that now spends roughly 25 cents of every dollar earned in America. The debt was acquired through federal spending policies that subsidize and favor certain endeavors, people and businesses over others.

It is the financial shadow cast by the federal government’s actions to distort and deform the nation’s economy and structure. This is the first burden of the national debt—its impact on past decisions about how to invest our scarce resources.

Whenever the government taxes, spends or creates inflation through printing money, it offers an incentive for resources to leave good investments and chase bad ones. Over time, this leads to slower economic growth, fewer job opportunities and slower wage growth. The stories of surging federal debt and economic malaise over the last generation are inexorably intertwined.

These economic distortions explain how concrete bound for the foundation of a new house ends up in the wall of a government office instead. It’s how an engineer set on improving the world ends up chasing federal subsidies for dead-end energy technologies favored by politicians rather than the laws of physics.

The federal debt is a ledger of opportunities lost and dreams denied. It is part of the financial footprint left behind by the government’s redirection and mostly misdirection of Americans’ talent, effort and energy.

The federal government’s unique ability to impose taxes and print money grants it the power to demand the fruits of the labor of our workers, innovators and entrepreneurs. The government has the unique position of being more “creditworthy” on paper than any private business or family because it can use these powers to pay its debts at public expense.

These powers also give rise to the second and future burden of the debt. They ensure that the government must eventually either tax or print money to cover the future repayment of the debt and interest costs.

The former suppresses economic activity and growth outright. The latter set the ticking time bomb of inflation that slowly saps the financial strength of American families and businesses, leading to economic stagnation.

The national debt serves as mass wealth redistribution—from productive industries to unproductive ones—from young workers and families to those who already have money and ultimately from most Americans to the select few favored by Washington.

Whenever the government spends a dollar, it commits to taking that dollar back—either through overt taxation or through the silent tax of inflation.

Only one solution leads back to prosperity: We must cut government spending. Far from conferring free benefits, government spending robs the economy of its strength today and stunts its growth tomorrow.

Though new government spending and debt make a promise to be a recurring burden, the opposite is true as well. The commitment to cut spending is a promise that we can restore our economic vitality.