The State of Connecticut’s inability to live within a budget has brought us to the point, apparently, where it is time to start disposing of the state’s family heirlooms. In grubbing around for money to fill a $377 million budget gap, the legislature’s Democratic majority went through its overwrought budget proposals and came up with $12.4 million in additional savings, including a cut of $76,500 in funding for the governor’s horse and foot guards.

We imagine some caffeine-stoked, time-pressed number cruncher scanned a list of expenditures, noticed the horse guard account, saw in his mind’s eye a quaint band of equestrians dressed in regalia prancing down a parade route, and quickly crossed out the expense with his Sharpie as nonessential. Poof! Two hundred years of service gone with the stroke of a pen.

To be fair, the legislators did not vote to eliminate the horse guard itself. That would require that they go back and undo an 1808 Act of the General Assembly that established the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard back when Jonathan Trumbull II was governor and Thomas Jefferson was President. They just decided to cut what amounts to the operating budget for one of the horse guard’s two facilities in the state. (The First Company Governor’s Horse Guard is in Avon.) With characteristic courage, the lawmakers decided to let the state’s military brass wield the knife and decide which would be cut. Governor M. Jodi Rell, this week, vetoed the Democrats’ budget plan, but the cut may still find a way into the budget.

In the context of the state budget, $76,500 is a trifling amount, yet as anyone who has sweated over a budget knows, every trifling dollar spent beyond one’s means is a down payment on insolvency. The question arises, however: have we really exhausted all other alternatives so that we have to start letting go of Connecticut’s treasures and heritage?

Let us assume for the moment, the answer is yes. With $12.4 million of the state’s budget shortfall filled with these kinds of savings and $364.6 million to go, what’s next? Do we sell off the gold leaf on the capitol dome? Trade in the governor’s mansion for a cozy condo in West Hartford? Auction off the statue of Nathan Hale in the capitol building?

The point is that the legislature’s current spending habits and tax policies are unsustainable. Even if we dismantle our state’s historical legacy dollar by trifling dollar, we will still go broke unless and until we stop averting our eyes from the glaring core of our state’s fiscal problems — not enough revenue to meet the payroll. Blame it on the weak economy and poor business climate, blame it on the unions, or blame it on tax-averse fat cats — it doesn’t matter who gets the blame. The reality is the same. Someone is going to have to pay higher taxes or someone is going to have to lose a state job, probably both. We can face that reality now, or we can continue to sacrifice bits and pieces of Connecticut’s historical legacy on the alter of procrastination and face that reality later. Which course leaves us the better state?

The Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard consists of 24 horses owned by the state and a spirited corps of volunteers from all walks of life who contribute their time, talents, and increasingly, their own money to help sustain a proud and colorful tradition of service. They work thousands of hours each year maintaining the state’s horses and facilities at Fairfield Hills at no cost to Connecticut taxpayers. Year in, year out, this small but proud militia educates the public, raises money for charitable organizations, and represents the best of our state’s past and present. It is a model of discipline and skill, which is exactly what the state needs to see its way through its current fiscal crisis. What does it say about us if we let it become one of the early casualties of that crisis?