We may have won this battle, but the war is far from over

The editors at The Nation make a good point in the magazine’s latest issue. While in many ways, Republicans in Congress “lost” much in this latest attack on Obama and his priorities, Democrats are now forced to work with a budget where sequestration levels are the new starting point. In other words, Republicans did lose this battle, but they continue to be successful in the larger war by pulling the government and the country further and further to the political right.

We have to give kudos to the President for standing firm in this latest showdown, but he has already conceded too much to Republicans and there is nothing to keep the Tea Party anarchists from resorting to extortion in the future to get what they want. For a variety of reasons, some good and many bad, before this week, Obama never drew a line in the sand in regards to the budget or anything else for that matter, and demanded that Republicans work with him on his terms. I’ve said this many times in the past, but Democrats continue allowing Republicans to set the parameters of the debate.

As Democrats, we should be the ones setting priorities on national issues. We need far more angry progressives like Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson and Dennis Kucinich in leadership roles and far fewer establishment rollovers like Pelosi, Reid and Feinstein. We need our own Michele Bachmann and Ted Cruz, passionate politicians (who aren’t clinically insane) willing to fight for progressive causes and not be cowed by the childish, name-calling haters on the Right.

The one great hope to come out of all of this is that Republicans have damaged themselves enough for Dems to keep the Senate and take back the House in the next election. 

Take the post-shutdown pledge

Now that another government crisis has been averted (for the time being), it’s time to turn our attention inward and ask, “How did these lunatics ever gain the power to do what they did?” If you stand in front of a mirror the answer will be obvious. We voted for them. We willingly sent them to Washington D.C. to wreak havoc and mayhem. We should all feel bad about that.

That can change, however. I ask you to take the pledge today. Make a stand to only send people to Congress who want to improve the way government works, not destroy it. Let’s elect men and women who will work to make government more effective, more responsive and more open. Let’s look for smart people to run for office, not anti-intellectuals. Let’s elect people who embrace the diversity of our country and not put bigots and haters in positions of power.

Real change begins with us and the people we elect to office. Let’s start voting smarter. It’s quick and easy. Raise your right hand and repeat the following sentence aloud.

“I vow to never again vote for radical, bigoted, government-hating Christian fundamentalist Republicans.”

America thanks you. 

Will Republicans pay a price for their stupidity?

As the government shutdown shenanigans come to a whimpering end today (everyone hopes), we can now focus on the great lesson learned from this fiasco: Congressional Republicans are morons, and I mean that literally.

How else can you characterize a group of individuals who would agree to shut down a government based on ridiculous demands that no one in their right mind would agree to, and who had no plan, strategy, end game or escape clause? These are allegedly adults who went to school, many of whom were financially successful in their private lives, and yet they couldn’t see what a boneheaded, fatally flawed idea this was. Lord have mercy.

What will the ramifications be? In an alternate universe they would be arrested and tried for attempting to extort the government of the United States. One would hope that in our current universe, however, their outlandish actions would cause more moderate Republican voters to question their loyalty to a party now run by anarchists, corporate lackeys and religious fanatics.

That may be asking too much. We shall see. Republicans do have a loyal base, but it is relatively small if you look at the numbers. If Democrats do not recapture the House and take more Senate seats in the upcoming election, they will only have themselves to blame. 

Throw the bums out? Then what?

In a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 60 percent of respondents say that if they had the chance to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including their own representative, they would.

Although these results clearly convey the public’s anger and frustration at the current stalemate in Washington, the sentiments are disingenuous to say the least. The very people who want to throw the bums out are the same people who routinely send conservative extremists like Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Steve King of Iowa and Louie Gohmert of Texas back to Congress time and time again.

The poll results might be reassuring if I felt that voters had learned something from the current dilemma, but I doubt that there have been many true political epiphanies. Of course, the mainstream media has once again failed the public with its “pox on both their houses” reporting; ignoring the reality that this is a Republican engineered disaster.

I’m all for throwing the bums out, but I don’t think the majority of voters, especially those in red states, are yet well informed enough to clearly distinguish between demagogues and democrats.

Don't blame the dog...

Great line from Jon Stewart to Boehner:

“Look, if you think Obamacare is a big enough threat to this country to shut down the government, fine. Own it. Don’t fart and then point at the dog.”

Let’s shut down the government. It’ll be fun.

Please step into my time machine. I’m going to set the controls for around a month ago and the location to a conference room somewhere in the Capital building in Washington, D.C. In this conference room sit the House Republican leaders, presided over by John Boehner. They are discussing the upcoming confrontation with Obama over the looming deadline for the spending bill. The dozen or so members are discussing whether to allow a clean bill to pass the House or to close down the government in order to pressure Obama to defund Obamacare.

I’m especially interested in this part of the deliberations because I can’t imagine how this group of individuals came to the conclusion that a government shutdown would be a successful tactic. So what would the arguments be for a shutdown?

Obama will certainly cave to our demands.

Now, I am one of those progressives who thinks Obama went too far in the past to appease Republicans, however, this is a different story. Conservatives in the House are asking him to defund a law that was passed by the Senate and the House and upheld by the Supreme Court. More importantly, the Affordable Care Act is the hallmark legislation of the Obama administration. How can Republicans think he is going to blithely destroy something that will define his presidency for years to come?

In addition, Obama may not have as rigid a spine as I would like, but even he understands that to give in to the Republicans demands now would be damaging to not only the rest of his presidency, but also detrimental to future presidents. If Obama caved, every time a president tried to pass something a minority of congresspeople objected to, there would be another hostage situation.

Once the shutdown begins, the public will flock to our side.

Uh, no. As the days pass, Americans are growing angrier and angrier at this unnecessary disruption. It is hurting real people in real ways, crippling the country and damaging our image overseas. This is emblematic of the same kind of delusional thinking that many conservatives displayed during the last election when they were sure that, despite all of the obvious signs, Romney was going to win by a landslide. Life in the conservative bubble.

This is the only option left to us

From their viewpoint, that seems true. The problem is, they can’t accept that they lost this battle and that they should simply move on. Instead, they are holding the country hostage to try and get their way. The members of Congress involved in this stunt aren’t merely Tea Party conservatives, they are anarchists who are willing to destroy the country in a misguided attempt to save it.

What the heck, let’s just shut down the government and see what happens.

Sound insane to you? It does to me, but I would not be at all surprised if this was the sentiment of some House members. Plan? Who needs a plan? Ramifications? I’m not sure, but I’ll still get paid. And doggone it all, government is evil anyway. Shutting it down might be the best thing that ever happened to this country.

As you can see, there simply are no good arguments for shutting down the government. And, of course, that’s why the Republicans did it.