Apples Aren't Oranges, and Government Is Not A Business!

And now for a brief interlude from the normal wit and high-minded comedy of this site. I need to get this off my chest, and this is the last day to do it.

I received an e-mail a couple of weeks back in which I was informed with a painstaking lack of detail that our choice is crystal clear this election year:  Mitt Romney ran a profitable business, and therefore is far more qualified to run this country. Yes, this was an isolated chain e-mail, but I hear this sort of thinking quite often.

While I didn't respond to the email, it continued to irritate me for days. The government of the United States is not a business! This idea that someone fortunate enough to have made money in the private sector can somehow sprinkle his magic fairy dust on the other 300 million of us so that we’re all financially stable, and suddenly streamline the entire government is simpleton thinking at best.

Fire departments are not going to turn a profit. Neither are police departments, or Medicare, or FEMA, or countless other government programs. I can guarantee you though that when your house is on fire, the least of your concerns will be whether or not the fire department is negatively impacting the bottom line.

Even if Romney could run the government as a business, what sort of businessman would take increasing revenue off the table? Governing while refusing to raise taxes under any circumstances would be akin to a struggling business refusing to raise prices despite the fact its customers really have no other options. If you had a business which had an excess of widget makers, (hundreds more than your fiercest competitor) and these were your biggest drain on costs, would you consider cutting back a bit on widget makers, or would you concern yourself with cutting back on the Friday donuts budget? I’d liken this to Romney’s refusal to cut defense spending while finger-wagging at insignificant budgetary concerns such as PBS.

I understand that people have their own reasons for voting for either candidate. I beg of you though, please don’t use the argument that was made in the aforementioned e-mail. The function of government is basically to protect and serve its citizens. The function of a business is to turn a profit. I guess you could call that simpleton thinking as well, but at least it’s based in reality.

Happy election day!