5. You don’t actually want to prioritize payments the way you say you do.

I went through the government and prioritized stuff the way that I thought Republicans would like: not touching Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, leaving border patrol intact, paying veterans’ benefits and so forth. Here’s a list of things that didn’t make the cut.

The price for paying military families, keeping old-age entitlements and unemployment insurance intact, opening the national parks, keeping the highways running and so forth is that all aid to education at every level stops immediately, from your local school district to any college students you might know who were planning to pay their tuition with student loans. Food stamps and Section 8 vouchers go to zero, and shortly thereafter, hungry and homeless kids show up on the evening news. Farm subsidies also go away, which is going to have interesting repercussions for Republicans from farm states. Bye-bye disaster relief: Florida and Texas, you’re on your own. Good luck next hurricane season. All research and development is shut down, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. All military procurement and construction stops, so I sure hope that none of the House members have military bases or contractors in their district.

Now, maybe you think that this budget is desirable. But no one who has paid attention to Washington for more than a minute could think it was feasible. Too many districts would get big cuts, immediately. Which means that Republicans are going to have to raise the debt ceiling.