The Republicans are always kvetching about how the government should be run like you run your household finances and I agree with them. After that, our paths diverge, drastically. Here's why.
We'll use the "household finance" example.
You = America (or, more accurately, the US government). Your house and the land around it is America.
Your job = Running the country. You are responsible to provide for your family's (the American people) well being. Keeping the house fixed, the lawn mowed, the lights on, the water running, the cars gassed and maintained, etc.
Tax revenue = Your salary. What your boss pays you to give him a certain amount of work for a certain amount of time every week.
Okay, got that? Let's move on.
Now, you find you've over-extended yourself somehow. Maybe spent too much on Christmas presents for the rugrats, or had a medical emergency your insurance barely covered, or had a fucked up mortgage that adjusted on you and doubled, or tripled, your payments. Whatever, but you're in the hole.
According to the Republicans, you should go to your boss and say "boss, I'm really in debt and I need every dime I can, so I'm gonna ask you to cut my hours" and, in turn, you'll make less.
That's what the Republicans want you to do by calling for more tax cuts for the rich and corporations. They're telling you to voluntarily cut your salary at a time when you need the money more than you ever did.
Then, with less money, you find you have a leaky roof, termites, the car's acting up (infrastructure), your kids are coming up on college age and they ain't Einstein or Hawking, and your mother or mother-in-law can't live on her own anymore and has no means to get into a decent home or home care so you have to care for her yourself (social programs).
The Republicans won't let you to spend anything on those things (because you got yourself in debt, you loser, and you got your boss to cut your hours). Their big plan, instead of you or your spouse going out and getting a second job to make a little more money (raise taxes) to fix and take care of the necessities, is for you to ask your boss for another cut in hours and pay (more tax cuts for the rich).
Thing is, you live in a neighborhood that isn't inherently dangerous, but there have been a few robberies and domestic violence (localized disruptions in other countries), maybe you've been robbed once (9/11). The local news tells you, day after day, that your neighbors are all planning to kill you and take your stuff so you go and invest in security (national defense), big time, because you want to keep your family and stuff safe. You couldn't really afford it to begin with, but it's all you got and you want to protect it. Now, since you got your boss to cut your hours, you really can't afford the armed guards patrolling, the searchlights, infrared night vision cameras, and perimeter fence with guard towers but your security company is running around with its hair on fire telling you the crap your paying for is now obsolete and you have to upgrade, for a fee. Also, disagreements with your neighbors due to your over-the-top security have got you sued a couple times and a decent part of what's left of your salary is garnished (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya).
Also, during this time, the price of gas has gone up 50% and you have to drive 35 miles to get to your job (where now you're making about half of what you did before) and that expense is added on to everything else. You also find out the bank you deal with has been badly managed and run into the ground, so all your savings have been taken to keep them afloat (big bank bailouts).
What do the Republicans want to do? They're telling you, once again, not to cut back your security system because it's bleeding money. Not to, maybe now that you're up to your neck, have your spouse go get a job, or you get a second one (raise taxes), but to cut back on feeding your kids and educating them (sorry, kids, no college for you), to cut back on grandma's care (sorry, grandma, but you and the dog can share the same bowl), and ask your boss to cut your hours once more (even more tax cuts for the rich and corporations).
If the Republicans want to run the country like I run my household budget, that's fine. I'd welcome that. But I don't go and abandon everything in order to make my boss "feel certainty" that he can make money in the future. If my boss loses his shirt, that his problem. If he can't run a profitable business unless he cuts my salary, he's either a bad businessman or he's trying to fuck me. If I think, after giving him back so much, he'll come to my aid when I can't afford my basic needs anymore (trickle-down economics), I'm a fool.
The Republicans are playing a good portion of us for fools.
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