Official Republican doctrine has banned honest math - The GOP’s fuzzy math

[housewolf]

The GOP’s fuzzy math

Here’s the point: Even if we enacted the platonic ideal of sane entitlement reform, and trimmed defense (as we need to), Republican budget math still doesn’t come close to adding up. Instead, as my colleagues at the Center for American Progress have shown, shrinking spending to sub-Reagan levels while retiring the boomers would involve dramatic cuts in everything else Americans think of as government – from national parks to NASA to the FBI to cancer research to student loans.

So why does the GOP pretend otherwise? Because acknowledging mathematical reality is too politically painful. Because uttering this simple phrase – “to accommodate the retirement of the baby boomers, taxes will need to rise” – is forbidden by official Republican doctrine.

Because official Republican doctrine has banned honest math.

Aversion to honest math explains why the Ryan budget embraced by the GOP doesn’t balance the budget — even after Medicare changes that may prove fatal to the party -- until the 2030s and racks up at least $14 trillion in debt between now and then. That’s because the Ryan budget cuts taxes. Balanced budget math in an aging America doesn’t work without higher taxes.

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gops-fuzzy-math/2011/07/20/gIQANu3hPI_story_1.html

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. They found a loyal base of people who hate math

and are REALLY bad at it. Ever point out to a right winger that their calculations are mathematically wrong? Out of all the things that will trigger a near tantrum, pointing out that 2+2 does not equal 5 seems to be a real trigger for them.