Commentary By Ron Beasley�
Nearly 60% of Americans are in favor of a government shutdown to reduce spending, but of course Americans are painfully ignorant of where the money in the budget goes. As I noted here the Tea Party wants to cut the budget but they really don't want to cut anything that really matters. What they do want to cut are some rather insignificant budget items they don't like. The current budget fight is not about balancing the budget, it is tribal warfare. There is little or no talk of cutting military spending, the Republican base likes bombing brown people and Muslims and the Military Industrial Complex would not stand for it. There is little or no talk of cutting Medicare, many of the Tea Partiers are on Medicare and the Medical Industrial Complex depends on Medicare for much of it's revenue.
I leave Social Security out of the budget equation because it is not a budget item. Unless you object to repaying the Treasury Bonds you and I have been buying for over thirty years Social Security does not contribute to the deficit anymore the repaying any of the other treasury bonds.
The Republican party is the party of corporate America and corporate America does not like regulations that make the water and air clean - so they are on the chopping block. And then there is the war on the truth - the measly five billion dollars a year NPR receives is a target. The truth is not a friend of conservatives. Planned Parenthood equals abortion to the base which puts it in the cross hairs. When you look at the budget these programs represent a few grains of sand in a large bucket.
If you really want to reduce the deficit you have two choices:
1. Slash Medicare and defense spending
or
2. Raise taxes
None of these or on the table so the present discussion is little more than tribal warfare - a political Kabuki dance. And yes, it is bi-partisan.
Actually, it requires both.
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