For the second time in less than twenty years, the United States government has been shut down. Is this the work of some enemy foreign government? A terrorist group? Some alien invaders out of a Hollywood movie? No… the truth is much more comical, if not tragic… our supposed leaders (cringe) shut down our own government. Republicans and Democrats are at it again over the budget and have each determined to hold their breath until blue-in-the-face, no matter what the other consequences may be.
The root cause of this impasse (to put it politely) is the implementation of Obamacare, that massive health program that may or may not benefit someone somewhere but who knows? No single person has ever taken the time nor would likely ever have enough time to actually read all its details and fully consider all its implications. Republican dissenters have rightly pointed this out time and again, fearing it will plunge our staggering economy further into the depths but the problem is they simply don’t have enough votes in Congress to stop the program. Many Republicans could’ve accepted this fact, accepted the new budget and could’ve worked toward gaining seats during the next election cycle, when Obamacare might be eliminated or at least amended… public opinion seemed to favor them on the matter.
Instead of moving on and looking to the future, some Republicans used this issue as an opportunity to shoot their own party in the foot. Senator Ted Cruz, for example, had used this time to gain himself some name recognition despite accomplishing little more than further convince both sides of what they already believe. House Speaker John Boehner could simply allow a straight vote on the budget and there’s a good chance it would pass but apparently he doesn’t wish to anger the extreme elements of the party. Senator John McCain has openly questioned such wisdom (or lack thereof) in his own party but his reputation as a compromiser has turned him into somewhat of a villain in today’s confrontational climate. By stubbornly holding out on the budget these Republican holdouts are turning public opinion against them, despite the fact that the President isn’t enjoying huge approval numbers either.
So here we are… nearly 800,000 federal employees sit at home without pay and not knowing if they’ll ever receive pay. These aren’t Washington big-wigs we’re talking about, these are people who actually work… scientists, law enforcement, health inspectors, etc., unlike those blubberers who got us into this mess. Additionally, stock markets are falling, the dollar has hit an eight-month low and perhaps the most far-reaching consequence of this shutdown is the enormous black-eye the US is suffering. It is becoming more and more difficult to truly think of our nation as the world’s greatest superpower when we are apparently governed by stubborn children. Think back to the eighties under President Reagan… for eight years he worked with a massive Democratic majority in both houses… despite their many differences, compromises were reached… budgets still got passed on time… the economy boomed… Americans beamed with ever-greater pride and felt positive about the future. How very long ago those days now seem.
Bullshit!
The shutdowns have both been the work of house republicans. The Democrats have ALREADY COMPROMISED, the budget is at Republican levels NOT where most Dems want it.
The ACA is not the cause of the shutdown, it’s going forward. This shutdown is because the Republicans have de-volved into a party of crazy extremists. They’re angry that they lost the election (an election by the way that DEBATED the ACA) and they DON’T BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY if it means they don’t get everything they want.
Remember how Sarah-the idiot-Palin used to refer to “real americans”, the crazies really believe that shit. They think that their minority opinions are more important than the majority’s and they’re willing to destroy the country in order to get their way.
Reagan dealt with RATIONAL, responsible democrats, Obama has been forced time and time again to deal with irresponsible, lunatic extremists, aka; the entire republican party.
NOT entirely.
Very few are standing up against this lunacy.
The remaining rational republicans need to be honest and speak out against the extremists. No false-equivalencies, no rationalizations, no lies, just the truth; that the republican party, right now, is actively working to destroy the federal government.
These crazies were voted in by somebody, they didn’t just show up. The make-up of the government is changing. All parties need to get along and figure out how to make it work.
From MotherJones;
The Shutdown in 10 Infuriating Sentences
By Kevin Drum
At its core, the dispute over the budget and the debt ceiling isn’t complicated at all. But it is full of misconceptions and urban myths. Here are the 10 facts worth remembering past all the obfuscation:
1. Democrats have already agreed to fund the government at Republican levels.
2. Despite what you might have heard, there have only been two serious government shutdowns in recent history, and both were the result of Republican ultimatums.
3. Democrats in the Senate have been begging the House to negotiate over the budget for the past six months, but Republicans have refused.
4. That’s because Republicans wanted to wait until they had either a government shutdown or a debt ceiling breach as leverage, something they’ve been very clear about all along.
5. Republicans keep talking about compromise, but they’ve offered nothing in return for agreeing to their demands—except to keep the government intact if they get their way.
6. The public is very strongly opposed to using a government shutdown to stop Obamacare.
7. Contrary to Republican claims, the deficit is not increasing—it peaked in 2009 and has been dropping ever since, declining by $200 billion last year with another $450 billion drop projected this year.
8. A long government shutdown is likely to seriously hurt economic growth, with a monthlong shutdown projected to slash GDP in the fourth quarter by 1 percentage point and reduce employment by over a million jobs.
9. No, Democrats have not used debt ceiling hostage taking in the past to force presidents to accept their political agenda.
10. This whole dispute is about the Republican Party fighting to make sure the working poor don’t have access to affordable health care.
It’s redistricting and gerrymandering that have resulted in certain districts controlled by lunatic right wingers in the reddest of states. These submoronic cretins believe all the propaganda spewed by their AM radio and Fox masters; and they are loud enough to get the attention of the inexperienced fools who were elected–and here they are, the turds in the punchbowl.
True, not entirely — but the sane ones in Congress now seem completely cowed by the threat of defeat in primaries — McConnell included.
So, let me see if I understand this.
I negotiate the purchase of your home with you, but on closing day I walk in, take out a gun and point it at your wife and kids head and say, “now, let’s negotiate the price of the house.” and now it’s YOUR fault that there is a terrorist and hostage situation?
The Senate Dems wanted Obama’s budget. The Senate GOP wanted the Ryan budget. They came to an agreement where it was a heck of a lot closer to Ryan than to Obama. They passed it back to the House. If that CR was presented to the House it would pass, but the Crazy 80 are clearly holding something on “the Speaker” since he refuses to even bring it up for a vote so the Crazy 80 can have a hostage crisis to win through hostage taking what they couldn’t win at the ballot box.
Stop playing the false equivalency game here.