October 3, 2013 6:13 AM

"Give me the money and no one gets hurt"

This time is different. What is at stake in this government shutdown forced by a radical Tea Party minority is nothing less than the principle upon which our democracy is based: majority rule. President Obama must not give in to this hostage taking — not just because Obamacare is at stake, but because the future of how we govern ourselves is at stake.

Democrats howled about ‘extortion’ and ‘hostage taking,’ which Boehner seemed to confirm when he came to the floor and offered: ‘All the Senate has to do is say ‘yes,’ and the government is funded tomorrow.’ It was the legislative equivalent of saying, ‘Give me the money and nobody gets hurt.’

I find myself thinking about maturity a lot these days, perhaps because there’s so little of it on display in public life today. When a cabal of radical, immune to reason zealots can shut down the government and hold America hostage, a reasonable person would have to wonder where the adults have gone. I may be a flaming Liberal (and proud of it), but it seems to me that any observer with a grip on reality and half a brain would know where to lay the blame for the current clusterf—k enveloping Washington. When the federal government can be shut down by wild-eyed nutjobs ready, willing, and more than able to burn America to the ground unless 100% of their demands are met, we’ve entered some very dangerous territory. I fear for the future of our Republic because of the precedent being set by the all-or-nothing brinksmanship that seems to be the rule rather than the exception among Congressional Republicans.

I find myself thinking about maturity because the people we’ve hired to run the country have demonstrated themselves to be so childishly inept and self-righteous as to defy understanding. Legislating is adult work, best done by people mature enough to understand that the essence of politics is compromise, what the late Tip O’Neill called “the art of the possible.” Governing means working toward the common good. It means not always getting what you may want, but understanding that doing the work of the American people means doing what needed to be done to move the country forward. Compromise was the grease that lubricated the wheels of government and got things done. Now it’s seen as a sign of weakness and lack of moral fiber, and it’s put us in a place where politics has become a zero-sum game: I by rights must win, and therefore you must lose.

As the President described it, one faction of one party of one house of Congress has thrown a tantrum because of one law they don’t like. Unless they get their way and dismantle Obamacare, they’ll burn the country down…all in the name of self-righteous and callous ideological purity. Nothing matters- not compassion, not the social contract, and certainly not recognition of those who think differently- more than achieving their aims. If they can’t get 100% of their demands met, they’ll turn out the lights and burn the place to the ground. Because they can.

Where are the adults?

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on October 3, 2013 6:13 AM.

Republican shame: A barrel with no evidence of a bottom was the previous entry in this blog.

Why today's GOP is far more the party of Lee Atwater than Ronald Reagan is the next entry in this blog.

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