Most people have their paycheck automatically deposited into their checking account and they make note of it in their check register. Then most people keep a running total in their check register so they know how much money they still have left in their checking account.
Now imagine that your register shows you still have $100 in your account but the bank notifies you that three of your most recent checks have bounced. Although they are going to honor those overdrawn checks, the bank also informs you that they are going to charge your account a $35 fee for each check that was overdrawn.
In this scenario, you go to the bank to seek an explanation of why your account was overdrawn since your records show you still have money on deposit there. How would you react upon being told that the reason why your account is overdrawn is because the bank spent your money to purchase new furniture for their office? No doubt you would be highly upset with them for this irresponsible use of your money and their outrageous action of then charging you a fee for them emptying your account! If this kind of situation were to happen, I don’t know anyone who would continue doing business with such a bank.
Yet, when our Federal Government has money automatically taken out of our paychecks and put into an account they control, then spends our money on things they have no right to purchase, incurring interest that we, the taxpayers, are then required to make payment on, many in Washington think we are complaining over nothing.
What the Tea Party wants is for our elected representatives to use our money wisely and responsibly and only on things that the Constitution authorizes them to spend it on. After all, we elected them to represent our best interests. If they don’t then we, the people, not only have the right and the authority but the duty and obligation to put someone else in charge of managing our money. That’s what elections are all about.
If we don’t do that, we will all go broke. That’s why fiscal responsibility matters.