Why is this so hard?

I realize that in our current climate, it is practically impossible to negotiate on the political direction for our country. Heaven forbid that any politician be accused of doing the "C" word - compromise.

We have a huge budget deficit that continues to grow. No question about that. Some say this holds the potential to bankrupt our country and ruin us all. Others say it's no big deal, we've always run a deficit.

Well shoot, it seems fairly simple to me.

You only run a deficit if you spend more than you take in.

And if that's happening, there are only two ways to fix it. Spend less and/or take in more.

When my first marriage failed and I was suddenly living in the same house, with the same bills, and raising my youngest teenaged son, I realized pretty quickly that I had less coming in than was going out.

So I did something that apparently is really radical today.

I cut my expenses. AND I increased my income.

I know...profound.

I found all the little things that I could cut back on. I shopped more carefully, cut back on expenses, trying to minimize what had to be paid each month. At the same time, even though I was a full time high school teacher, I took on a daily paper route in the mornings that added to my income each month.

So, please explain to me why this kind of an idea is so difficult for the partisan members of our political community?

Republicans want to cut costs. PERIOD. Slash government, typically starting with anything that helps poor people or anything that involves someone being employed by the government. But don't increase revenue because taxes are evil. IN FACT, according to these folks, we need to decrease the taxes (especially on businesses and the wealthy) because the evil government is already too big.

Nevermind the poor, the homeless, the needy.

Nevermind that those government workers will then be AMONG the poor and needy.

Nevermind that cutting taxes on their wealthy (and election contributor) friends kind of negates the benefits of their cuts.

At the same time, the Democrats come across as being equally one-sided. "Let's raise taxes!" they cry. Especially on businesses and the wealthy. But don't CUT anything! Government seems to be solely responsible for meeting the needs of the unfortunate in our country, and that should be inviolable it seems they say.

Nevermind that we already have trouble encouraging businesses to create jobs.

Nevermind that abuse in entitlement programs is clearly a problem on some magnitude.


Why is it that our politicians seem to be unable to do what I was able to do while going through one of the most difficult transitions in my life?

First off, government is not inherently evil. And it has a significant and proper role to play in establishing for the common good. So stop trying to convince us that evil government is the only problem facing our nation today. My guess is that the crumbling family and parents who choose to no longer truly parent are a much more pernicious problem.

Secondly, let's stop pretending that social programs coming from the government are fine the way they are. Not every person complaining about the EBT card family with the $500 rims and 50 inch TV are making this stuff up. Changes need to be made, especially in making the system one that helps but strongly encourages people to get OFF the system as quickly as possible.

And then let's stop pretending that our big donor corporations and wealthy elite are hurting like the rest of the average people in the country. And let's stop perpetuating the lie that if we keep giving the wealthy more and keep taking less, that they'll all benevolently return their excess to the rest of the country in the form of stable, good paying jobs. I think the last 10-20 years proves that this is a patent lie.

Yes, we may need to raise taxes. Maybe not by raising the rates, but simply by eliminating the many ways to cheat or game the system. And maybe we have to stop rewarding businesses that routinely chop US jobs and send them overseas, and start helping the businesses that try to bolster our OWN people and economy.

We're not going to keel over tomorrow because of this deficit.

But it's nothing short of ridiculous that our political leaders have come to ACCEPT continually raising our debt limit RATHER than finding a way to operate under a balanced budget.

If we can do it, so can they.