Do we understand what the Teahadist-Republicans want? How about what the American people want?
What I gather is that they want:
1. Social Security reform that guarantees the current level of benefits, alters someone else's, and cuts everyone's Social Security taxes to boot, perhaps
2. A world-class national infrastructure that can be built and maintained without tax dollars.
3. A balanced budget that doesn't sacrifice any of the government programs – especially the sacred military-industrial complex and the various old age benefits – that we like, while maintaining ridiculous low tax rates for the very rich and the corporations.
4. Clean air without pollution controls, clean water with a neutered and underfunded EPA, and businesses that do socially responsible things without any regulation whatsoever like BP and Halliburton.
5. Consumer goods at “Made in China” prices that create high-paying jobs in America and these are manufactured with the highest degree of quality and craftsmanship..
6. Giant trucks and SUVs that drive like Formula One race cars, look cool, fit into small parking spaces, cost under $18,000, and get the fuel economy of a Toyota Prius.
7. Complete freedom and complete security at the same time; but not for Blacks, Latinos or gays and women must relinquish control of their own bodies to government..
8. An America that acts like a swaggering, sociopathic asshole on the global stage yet is beloved by all the nations of the world. We must maintain that arrogance and apologize to nobody.
9. Wars against every enemy, real or imagined, all of the time, with no U.S. casualties and no effect on the budget and doing it without a formal declaration of war.
10. Incredibly rich and rewarding professional lives while supporting our employers' right to do whatever they want to us without recourse while blaming the LABOR UNIONS for any sputtering of the economy.
11. A vibrant, consumption-based U.S. economy with good jobs for anyone willing to look for one resulting from free trade policies that encourage money and capital flows to cheap labor markets. They do have a lot of job openings at Burger King.
12. A highly educated workforce produced by a school system that requires no tax dollars to achieve excellence, students who have no interest in learning, and a virulently anti-intellectual society. Complete denial of science and a perverted revisionist history course.
13. Closed borders and an endless supply of cheap labor to keep prices low.
14. To buy whatever we want irrespective of what we can afford while maintaining the drumbeat of personal responsibility.
15. Health care that is cheap, superior, and readily available to them without the danger of the same being enjoyed by anyone they deem undeserving. The enhancement of the stranglehold of Health Insurance Companies so they can continue to milk the American cow and retain their parasite status.
I don’t know how all this can be accomplished if you start with the premise that GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM and it can’t do anything right. It couldn't be any clearer: we want a government that will resolve every problem we currently face with solutions that require no effort, no sacrifices, and no money. And I have no doubt that we have elected a group of people brave enough to promise exactly that. Where are the jobs Mr. Boehner? …He says: What if a few million people lose their jobs? SO BE IT.