Crippling the Government : The GOP Embarks on a Fool's Errand, Handing Victory to the Democrats

Let us all bow to our exalted leaders in Washington!  How gracious of them to reach an eleventh hour agreement to stave off bringing us to the brink of economic disaster for a few more months, allowing the government to fully operate and pay the bills rung up by the profligacy of both parties in the meantime.  Citizens were punished and the world financial markets rocked while deliberations went down to the wire, but who cares about that?  Partisan bickering must take place, the people be damned.

Long-term budget talks have now begun and surely magic will occur, a meeting of the minds despite the rancor and lack of comity that exists in the House and Senate: right.

Both parties are the losers in this debacle, but the greatest dunces are the Republicans.  Having taken us down the road of partial government shutdown twice before and being saddled with the blame, they learned nothing, undertaking a fool’s errand again.  Kansas Republican Representative Tim Huelskamp provided unusual candor in explaining his position in opposition to ending the shutdown and hiking the debt ceiling: that any Republican that did so would face a primary challenger; i. e., my goal is not to deliver effective governance, but to be re-elected.  It is notable that one hundred forty-four House Republicans voted ‘no’ on the legislation that ultimately passed, these individuals still unwilling to lay down their rhetorical weapons and act for the good of the American people.

Let me state that I do not support the “Affordable” Care Act and believe that our metastasizing debt must be reined in, but the GOP could not have handled these matters in a more dysfunctional and counterproductive way, handing a victory to the Democrats and getting nothing in return.

In the category of delusional are the following quotes: 

House Speaker John Boehner:  “We fought the good fight; we just didn’t win” The “good fight”?  What was good about it, and did he not see what any reasonable person did, that the party would ultimately have to retreat in disgrace just as it has done in the past when it engaged in these shenanigans?

Senator Joe Manchin, West Virginia: “This is truly a time that America rose to show its best”.  Its best?  Roiling the nation and the world economy, getting us to the brink of another downgrade of our debt as squabbling and grandstanding prevail, and coming up with no long-term solution is our “best”?  What would be our worst, Senator?

As he prepared to sign another stopgap bill into law, President Obama inveighed that it is now time for federal elected officials to “earn back the people’s trust”.  Lots of luck, Mr. President, and Congress.  The bond between the people and their “leaders” is broken: some leaders.  We want a divorce due to irreconcilable differences!