FISCAL PUNISHMENT LEADS TO FISCAL ABUSE AND BULLYING

Any wise parent understands the difference between discipline and punishment.

Discipline is administered by adults who remain calm, cool, and collected. It literally means “to teach” and helps implement strategies to prevent future problems.

Punishment is, by definition, punitive. Fear and pain are used to achieve immediate results, which often have by-products such as rebellion and distrust. (Bullying is a form of punishment.)

When one child is repeatedly targeted by excessive punishment by a parent, especially for unknown or illogical reasons other than the parent’s anger, that child is abused.

What Republicans are doing to the budget is not fiscal discipline. It is fiscal punishment and abuse and should be recognized as such.

Republicans are using the key components of abuse in their approach to the budget deficit: acting quickly and swiftly due to unknown or illogical reasons that invoke the administrator’s anger and results in inflicting fear and intense pain for its victims.

Families in financial difficulty don’t solve those problems by eliminating their children’s right to an education. They would not disregard safety issues in their home or ignore their home’s infrastructure. Not paying for necessary medical services, with the majority being the ones helping females, wouldn’t be a viable alternative. A wise family would look at ways to increase family funding. A family member might volunteer to take a second job. One that’s hoarding cash and not contributing his/her income toward the family’s finances would be a logical place to look. They might also look at the rent they charge for their rental property that’s below market value and consider raising it.

There are ways to achieve balanced budgets. Cuts can be found that don’t penalize only programs and people the Republicans don’t like very much. And, we also cannot continually refuse to increase funding—especially for the extremely wealthy and for corporations. One-sided (cuts only) approaches simply will not work. They will punish and abuse our most vulnerable citizens.

We must start talking about fiscal discipline and call out the Republicans who want fiscal punishment and abuse.