New York (CNN) -- The clock is ticking in Washington on the bipartisan super committee, those 12 members of Congress tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by Thanksgiving. More than 140 of their colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, are encouraging them to be bold and go bigger -- reaching $4 trillion of deficit reduction in order to put the U.S. on stable long-term fiscal footing and avoid another round of downgrades. But if their colleagues' counsel isn't persuasive, there's an additional voice the super committee could find inspiration from -- the original founding father, George Washington.
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John Avlon: Debt super committee facing a pivotal choice for America's future
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140 members of Congress favor going for a big solution to debt problem
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Avlon: America's first president advised payment of debt through taxes
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He says the debt panel should put the country above arbitrary "no-tax" pledges
@placeholder warned about the dangers of what we would today call hyper-partisans: "They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community."
The most hopeful declaration of independence that has occurred in recent weeks is the growing number of @placeholder willing to break ranks with anti-tax absolutists.