You Maniacs!

Has anyone in the TeaBag Party seriously considered what would happen if their political dreams came true? Let's imagine a scenario in which a TeaBag majority gains power. They abolish the IRS, the Dept. of Education and the Dept. of Energy just to name a few. Corporate taxes are cut to all-time lows and Social Security is contracted out to Goldman Sachs.

Control of the Federal Highway System is turned over to the states. Unable to maintain the roads without Federal funding, the states lease the highways out to corporate contractors: Halliburton/KBR gain control over national road maintenance; Apple would make a device that would be installed in every vehicle -for a mandatory fee. Google would track the device using satellites , then Google would use Verizon networks to transmit  your mileage details to Halliburton , who would then send them to Bank of America who would then bill your Visa or American Express. You are then charged for each mile driven on the highways, plus a service charge and a handful of inscrutable fees.

Such a system might prove to be impractical, in which case  citizens might be charged a simple flat  fee or due or charge for the privilege of using the highways and roads. It would consist of monies paid upward to a controlling entity but would be called something that wasn't tax.

(Or each state could have its own tollbooths. Imagine I-95 with tollbooths). 

Without the Dept. of Education, public education becomes the burden of the states, which have to either raise taxes or privatize their school systems. Standards in all but the most affluent states would plummet  even below the current abyssal levels. Many kids would be 'home-schooled' by parents  who can't afford  private school , parents who are woefully unequipped to provide comprehensive education. Millions of children would grow up without solid language, math and science skills. American innovation would suffer as a result, likely for generations to come.

The FDA ceases operations and food recalls become a thing of the past. Tainted food, however, does not; without the CDC and Federal resources, the outbreaks are not properly traced, investigated or reported.

Closing the schools and most of the Federal Government doesn't create jobs, it creates unemployed people. The people get hungry and desperate. Congress delivers aid in the form of a series of televised lectures on personal responsibility.

Unable to maintain funding for a vast standing military, the armed forces undergo a drastic reduction. Hundreds of thousands of personnel are abruptly discharged into the job market. The VA is overwhelmed and turns operations over to Blue Cross. In a move to cut costs, Blue Cross re-classifies battlefield injuries as pre-existing conditions and refuses treatment to Purple Heart holders.

The same 'best and brightest' who collapsed the global economy would be in control of Social Security. When they crash it, there is no  Big Government left to bail them out. Benefits simply cease to be paid.

And so on...

This blog is too short to list all the possibilities. Most are bad. Some are worse. Some are Somalia. Somalians haven't paid income taxes for years.