Please Explain To Me How We Can Cut Wasteful Government Spending and Pay Less Taxes

[SweepPicker]

and get our country out of debt? I keep hearing this from my wing nut friends on Facebook but honestly do not have a good comeback. Help!

[CarmanK]

1. It's a LIE, cutting wasteful spending is a ruse to shrink govt!

It is the republican mantra started by REAGAN AND TRICKLE DOWN. The political rhetoric was/is to cut costs of govt by removing govt waste and outdated programs. But the goal was/is to cripple govt to a level of impotency, so that it could not regulate industry effectively and weaken law enforcement. The ideas of FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY were empty rhetoric to please the base, all the while squandering taxpayer dollars on CONGRESSIONAL PORK-remember the BRIDGE TO NOWHERE in AK (tip of the iceberg)?? They also demonized the poor to sooth the conscience of the CHRISTIAN RIGHT in their devastation of the social safety net. After all, those people were really just unworthies, gaming the system and preying on people's good will. The repugs cannot deliver on their political promises that got them elected, because they were based on "smoke and mirror". the idea was to divide and conquer and they were very successful at conjuring up the culture wars and spreading hatred, racism and bigotry.

[SweepPicker]

3. I get

cut wasteful spending and we should have done that long ago and cannot agree or disagree with what you are saying. I just know from common sense that in order to help our country out, we have to increase revenue which means an increase in taxes.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. You can't cut your way out of debt. There must be revenue increases as well. Or the result will be

Teabagger heaven: the only function of our federal government will be 'security' and empire. There will be no services for the citizens of the country.

[L. Coyote]

4. Simple, get rid of the military and have just a peace keeping force instead.

In other words, give up on the idea of conquering the whole world .....

[Shandris]

5. Without a discussion of the term 'Wasteful'...

...it's a lost cause. They probably consider 'wasteful' to include SS and Medicare, but not ethanol/corn subsidies, sugar subsidies, corporate tax breaks, and so forth. It's a dialogue in two different languages.

[Bryn]

6. This conservative person on Twitter tweeted about Wisconsin:

If #WIDEMS 'take back #wisconsin', Teachers will be laid off, taxes will be raised, jobs will be lost VOTE #WIGOP #wirecall #wiunion #wi


I am scratching my head. What is this? Ugh!

[Fresh_Start]

7. Cut defense spending to the level of the next highest country

China and save $500 billion a year. In ten years, that $5 trillion and we'd retire 1/3 of the debt

[tk2kewl]

8. teabaggers think of welfare as "wasteful" and buy into the BS they have been sold for 30+

years about black welfare queens. meanwhile they and their families get their share of benes as well (ss, medicare, unemployment ins). then they dismiss defense spending abuses because we need to be the baddest bully on the block. you cant reason with people who don't reason with themselves.

sure there is fraud and abuse in programs for the poor that cost the government millions, maybe even billions, but the abuses of the MIC and wall street cost us trillions. if they dismiss orders of magnitude when it comse to wastefullness then they cannot be taken seriously.