As we all know by now, there is nothing logical in the arguments made by the members of the Tea Party wing of the right wing. In the memorable words of Barney Frank, it's like arguing with a table. No amount of logic will get through their thick skulls, and no matter how much their own arguments contradict themselves they will not budge.
And then I came up with this argument regarding the debt ceiling and used it this past week, and actually made a horse drink the water they had been brought too.
Think about a car loan. You've borrowed say $15,000 on a fairly decent car and you pay let's say, $300 a month for it. You got the car two years ago when everything the dealer made sense to you but now you're 2 years into a 5 year loan and it's becoming a bit of a burden. You want the car - hell, you love the car, but it's hurting you. So, what do you do?
You decide to pay $250 per month instead of $300. You can better afford that. Cool. Now let's use some common sense here. What do you think will happen if you do that?
Simple. It will take you longer to pay off the car. It will wind up costing you more money because of finance charges. And it will hurt your credit rating. Can we all agree that this is what would happen if you just decide to pay out less on your car loan than your monthly payment?
We're in agreement? Good. Because That's what the Republican party just did to the economy. They decided to pay less for expenses already incurred. It's going to cost us more in the long run because it will take us longer to pay off these debts. And as we've already seen, it has hurt our credit rating. By demanding these spending cuts and holding everything hostage until they got what they wanted - which they did get - they have done the exact same thing that was done in the example of the car.
Now I already know what you're saying/thinking; the economy isn't a car. YES IT IS. Sure it might be fancier, have more bells and whistles and an anti-theft system second to none, but it's still just a car. The idea is exactly the same. You've bought something. You're finding it difficult to afford. You reduce your payments on it. It takes longer to pay, costs more, and hurts your credit. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL.
Let me repeat that. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL.
Going back to the car example it's pretty obvious to see that the solution presented is irresponsible and no real solution at all. Another way has to be found. The same is true with our economy. Another way has to be found.
Because continuing the way it's being done right now by the Republican party is irresponsible. And that is obvious - even to a Tea Partier.
2:37 PM PT: As some people have noted, I simplified the analogy and even left out a few things to get the point across. That's exactly right and actually necessary.
People don't understand fiscal policies and economics and their impacts. If they did then our elections would be very different. But people do understand cars.