It’s inevitable that Congress will be unable to stop a government shutdown on Oct. 1.
Yes, yes, I know. The government isn’t really shutting down. Just some government services. After all, who needs food assistance programs, food inspection, air traffic control, drinking water inspections, and other stuff that, you know, kinda saves people’s lives.
Blowing up the government to prevent it from working is idiotic. There are other ways to cut government spending instead of thumping your chest and posing for the cameras, telling the folks back home what a budget-cutting warrior you truly are.
As for the four years when Trump was president? Pay no attention to that Freedom Caucus moron behind the curtain. All of these Republican born-again budget cutters need to be reminded of what they failed to do when a Republican was president. Was Donald Trump trying to “destroy America”? Some would argue that he was, but not via running up massive budget deficits. And calls to rein in spending and the use of debt limit and shutdown threats as “leverage” were few and far between.
Related: The GOP Is Hopelessly Divided As the Caucus Blows up Over Spending Bill
“How else are we going to cut the budget?” is the plaintive wail from the radicals. “We need ‘leverage’ to force the Democrats to do the right thing.”
The way you force the Democrats to do the right thing is to win elections. I know, that’s boring and not half as exciting as blowing up the government by conducting an experiment of governing the United States without a government.
And if you believe it’s too late for elections to save America, there are other ways to effect change. You can find that answer in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.
But that’s not the way that the republic works. Normally, your party presents a set of ideas to the voters who then decide whether to elect members of Congress to enact those ideas. The opposition uses its parliamentary tricks and other tactics to alter those proposals, and something that in ancient times we used to call “compromise” is reached. Nobody gets everything they want. Nobody “surrenders.” No side “plays” the other side. Only extremist partisans on both sides have advanced those theories because they thrive in chaos and anger.
This is how America worked for roughly 200 years. Imperfect, not always fair or just. Humans trying to find ways to live together without going for the throat and without trampling on the unalienable rights of their neighbors. But the hysterical nihilists on the right believe that government spending needs to be massively cut now — right now — despite the fact that it took 75 years to grow the national debt to its current $33 trillion. The House radicals want to return spending to pre-pandemic levels. We’re talking about $400 billion in cuts. That can’t be done without massive social upheaval and civil unrest. It’s not going to happen. It’s never going to happen.
We’re not going to get out of this mess by running around the barnyard like a chicken with its head cut off. This is not a “pants on fire” moment where taking any action — no matter how stupid and self-defeating — needs to be advanced.
The necessity of cutting the budget is a given. But it shouldn’t be off-limits to propose a tax increase when 50% of taxpayers pay nothing at all. No one likes tax increases. But we all have to realize that we can’t have everything we want from the government without being able to pay for it. Democrats believe the entire tax burden can be born by “the rich.” Republicans think we can cut enough from the budget and cut taxes at the same time to balance the budget.
Both sides are delusional. And perhaps that’s the root cause of the mess we find ourselves in. The reality of a $33 trillion national debt and a $2 trillion budget deficit is lost on crazies from both sides who think that the biggest issue is preventing taxpayers from paying for gender surgery for soldiers or insisting that they do.
Is this what Republicans are going to shut down the government for?
