Ask any Republican what they mean by shrinking government and they will usually hand you a list of government programs that need to be dissolved or reduced so they do nothing that people really need. They have forgotten who pays them and who pays for the programs we all need. My son observed years ago that it appears they are deliberately trying to dumb down Americans. Public education has become a primary target as we have been seeing with all the Republican leadership at the state level. They are screaming about Medicare and Social Security and Medicaid but without those programs poverty would be a raging epidemic--unstoppable and deadly. They don't want taxes increased on those who can most afford to pay their fair share because the wealthy would benefit the least from the 4 previous programs--however, they do benefit from fire, police, military, primarily National Guard, roads and other infrastructure that have been neglected because of efforts to restrict spending in all these areas. Shrinking government is not beneficial unless it's cutting things we can afford to do with out. When your home budget gets tight, you get another job to supplement the income and then you start cutting things from the budget that you can absolutely live without--either permanently or temporarily until you can go back to normal. What you don't do is cut the things you absolutely need like food, shelter and transportation. So why do they all seem to want to cut what is necessary, never supplement the income and remove agencies that protect our air, water and food supplies--not to mention medical prescriptions. I get what they are doing because they hint at it every day they get a chance to do it. They call these programs "socialism" and from the standpoint that we all give to these programs and generally speaking benefit from one or all of them at some time or other--they are social. What they aren't is "socialism" nor are they a good fit for a society that runs on capitalism.
Capitalism is the system our economics is based on. And Capitalism is good because it can provide a way for business to grow and provide jobs. Unfortunately, when greedy people take control and game the system to make profits for themselves and their friends, we have what happened in 2008. That didn't happen because people made mistakes. Oh no, that happened because people knew what they were doing and they didn't care about the consequences for our country. We were headed for a cliff (a depression not unlike what happened when the Great Depression hit in the 30's) but a wall was thrown up at the last minuet to keep everyone including those who got us into this mess from going over that cliff. Many Americans are still suffering because of the greed of the few. And while investigations are ongoing into what crimes were committed, no one was really punished. So we limp along with the few safety nets our social programs provide. Capitalism nearly killed us again but all hail the Capitalistic Society--we must not keep it from going forward or from preventing the criminals from doing it to us all over again!
So here we are in another election cycle and the Republicans are pointing fingers in all directions but themselves. They demand smaller government as if "big" government caused all our problems. And in nearly every state they are trying to cut everything people really need, especially education. Their solutions to "big" government seem to involve making laws that are invasive to our private lives, which is the big hypocrisy. Their definition of big government is taking our money and giving it to undeserving people. The truth is they want control over every part of our lives that is not the business of any government. Our government protects us from such intrusions, or at least it should. It's totally obvious that Republicans exercise their own kind of "big government" demanding that we give up our privacy, our right to collectively bargain in the market place, our right to make health care decisions with our doctors and our insurance providers and our right to keep any religion out of any private citizens daily concerns. So which is it? Is big government collecting taxes and helping us survive in emergencies or is it demanding to control every part of our private lives?
If government is "overspending" on programs that people really need, then let's cut things we need less of like Military spending (which is way more than we need). How about Congress getting a stipend instead of a pay check, no health insurance and no pensions based on how long they have been in Congress. For that matter, we need term limits for these people if we are going to get back to small government. Let mothers, who balance their budgets at home, take a wack at balancing the Federal Budget. These are supposed to be our best and brightest and I don't see them doing anything but what serves their own interests. If you are going to collect tax dollars from Americans then you need to use that money for things WE need--do you need a list?! And if you cut us off, then we'll cut you off...we'll provide the term limits come election day! Are you with me?
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