The majority of Americans may not be ready to face the facts on government spending, and a majority of Congress may be on the same page, but there are some people who understand the imperative of restoring fiscal sanity. It seems that Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) may finally be one of those people.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said that bringing down deficits and debt would require tough choices like the ones proposed on Wednesday by the leaders of President Obama’s fiscal commission, recommendations that have already been met with a chilly reception.

“There is no way of doing it that’s not controversial or difficult,” Conrad said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” of the panel’s recommendations. “If some of us have to sacrifice a political career to get this country back on track, then so be it.”

Of course, the questions is how Conrad intends to balance the budget. This is, after all, a guy who voted for government-run health care. So he’s clearly not opposed to unaffordable entitlement programs. We’ll have to see which parts of the report he supports and which he opposes. Maybe he wants to raise taxes while sustaining other spending.

Still, getting people to understand that we’re on a course to fiscal disaster is the first, major step in addressing the issue. At least Conrad is making that first step.