Tea Party candidate taken behind the woodshed by an old man asking a simple question

[Crossless2.0]

No bailouts, No stimulus, no new entitlements. I want cuts...cuts...cuts.

How do you feel about:

* Cutting defense spending at least by half?
* Ending all corporate welfare, including oil subsidies?
* Ending indirect subsidies for religion by taxing churches?
* Ending the war on drugs?
* Raising taxes on the top 1% to the pre-Reagan levels?
* Ending indirect subsidies for corporate labor costs by taxing any corporation whose full-time employees must rely on food stamps to survive so the government can recoup the cost of said food stamps plus administrative costs? (Alternatively, raise the minimum wage so that all full time employees will rise above the eligibility line)?

Once all these cuts are implemented, then we can talk about education and food stamps.

And speaking of education, food stamps, etc., federal cuts to these areas will do nothing but add further stress to states' budgets. This shit won't magically take care of itself, and the revenue will have to come from somewhere. Given the poverty levels and educational outcomes in some of the reddest states, and given conservatives' reluctance to raise taxes anywhere, the Tea Party ploy (it hardly rises to the level of strategy) will only hurt many of their own.

Then again, these are people who don't believe in the efficacy of government programs and are doing their very best to demonstrate just that.

By the way, I'm no stereotypical tax-and-spend liberal. My tendency is toward fiscal restraint whenever possible. But if the Tea Party types aren't even willing to entertain the cuts DP listed above, they simply aren't to be taken seriously. Fuck their posturing.