The GOP’s Real Reason For Refusing To Raise The Debt Limit Had Little To Do With The Deficit
It was a threat to crash the economy as leverage to get legislation that they didn’t have the votes to enact according to the rules
By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
People Often Give Phony Excuses
People don’t want to admit the real but unpalatable reasons why they actually do the things they do.
When people don’t want to admit the real motivation behind doing what they’re doing, they tell you A reason that they think will be more acceptable than THE reason.
You reach for your spouse and she says, “Not tonight, Bill. I have a headache.”
Well, she may actually have a slight headache, that’s A reason, but it’s not THE reason she’s rolled over and turned her back toward you.
You’re invited to a social event by someone you don’t like. You’re not going say “No thanks because I don’t like you.”
No, you’re going to say, “I’m swamped with work” or “I have to spend more time with my family” or “I’m too busy.”
Those all may be somewhat true; they’re each A reason that sounds better than THE reason — “I don’t like you.”
Reducing The Deficit Was A Reason, Not THE Reason
The Republicans claimed that they didn’t want to vote to raise the debt limit because the deficit was too high and sound fiscal policy required that they do something to force a reduction in the deficit.
But, of course, that was not their real reason at all.
That story was one of those “Not tonight, Bill. I’ve got a headache” lines from far, far down the list of the their reasons for voting “no.”
The Republicans put out that story because they understood that the number-one reason they were refusing to vote to raise the debt limit didn’t sound very good.
How We Know That Deficit Reduction Wasn’t The Real Reason
How do we know that reducing the deficit wasn’t THE reason the Republicans were refusing to vote to increase the debt limit?
Because, as always, actions speak louder than words.
Republican Actions:
- The GOP wanted to increase government spending for the Defense Department.
- During Trump’s administration the GOP-controlled Congress voted to run up a three TRILLION dollar deficit.
- One of the major concessions the Republicans demanded in exchange for voting to increase the debt limit was a 20-billion-dollar reduction in the budget for the IRS, thus drastically reducing the government’s ability to collect taxes, taxes that would have exceeded the 20-billion-dollar IRS cost reduction and actually reduced the deficit.
If you’re really worried about government spending exceeding the government’s income you don’t
- Run up a three trillion dollar deficit
- Try to increase government spending on stuff you like
- Insist on cutting the government’s tax revenues
- Refuse to increase taxes on the very rich
Those are the actions of people whose first priority is something far different from reducing the deficit.
The Real Reason
The real reason, THE reason the GOP refused to vote to increase the debt limit was that the damage from failing to increase the debt limit would have been catastrophic to the country and the GOP used that threat as leverage to force the Democrats to vote for legislation that the Republicans wanted but didn’t have the votes to pass on their own.
It was little different from the hackers telling the Mayor, “Give us $20 million or we won’t unlock the city’s computers.”
They didn’t want to actually say that out loud.
It’s so much better for the Republicans to babble, “We must reduce the deficit” than to say,
- “Vote for what we want or we will let the country crash and burn.”
- “We’re going to hold America hostage as a way to force the Democrats to vote for laws that we don’t actually have enough votes to enact on our own according to the rules.”
But this phony-baloney switcheroo nonsense is common in American politics.
Not Killing Babies Is A Reason But Not THE Reason Fundamentalist People Oppose Abortion
Fundamentalist Christians tell people that they’re against abortion because it’s “killing babies.”
The “killing babies” line is as true as your “I’m too busy to come to your party” excuse. It’s A reason, but it’s not THE reason.
How do we know? Actions speak louder than words.
If the fundamentalist Christians really wanted to stop abortions because abortions are “killing babies” they would do whatever they could to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies that motivate women to want to have an abortion in the first place.
Fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer babies killed.
If reducing abortions was really their primary goal they would promote
- more sex education,
- wider distribution of contraceptives, and
- easier availability of the “morning after” pill.
All of those things would massively cut down on unwanted pregnancies and throttle the demand for abortions at its source, women who have an unwanted pregnancy.
THE Reason Fundamentalists Oppose Abortion
But fundamentalist Christians oppose sex education, easily available contraceptives, and the morning after pill. Why?
Because what fundamentalist Christians really want to stop is women having recreational sex, sex for fun, because that’s a sin.
They want everyone to have sex only within marriage and then they want the decision whether or not the wife gets pregnant to be the man’s choice because the man is supposed to be in charge of the woman. That’s how they think God wants it.
They want unwanted pregnancies to remain as a punishment and a deterrent to women who have sex for fun because under fundamentalist-Christian doctrine the man is supposed to be the boss and a woman having sex for fun is a sin and, what they are really, really against is sin itself.
So, they’re selling criminalizing abortions as preventing baby killing, A reason, but really their opposition to abortion, THE reason, is to keep the risk of an unwanted pregnancy as a deterrent to women committing a sin.
Their number-one enemy is not abortion. It’s sex outside of marriage.
Of course, they’re not going to say, “We want to make abortion illegal because we want an unwanted baby to be a punishment and a deterrent to women having sex for fun.”
That’s not going to sell very well.
So, Should We All Just Tell The Truth?
Next time, maybe we should all just say, “I don’t want to go to your party because I don’t like you” instead of giving the phony-baloney reason, “I’m way too busy to make it.”
Just kidding.
People never want to admit the real, but unpalatable number-one reason why they do or don’t do something .
“Not tonight, Bill. I’ve got a terrible headache.”
Of course you do.
By the way, I drink whiskey to cure my sore throat, and I play the horses and buy lottery tickets so that I can make a lot of money that I can all spend on my family.
I do it all for you, honey.
Sure, you do.
— David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
