Thursday, October 17, 2013

Extortion Lost. Now What?

I can remember a time when the fact that the Federal Government was up and running was not treated as a miracle.  Ditto with our willingness to pay our bills.

As a matter of fact, I can remember a time when meeting one's financial obligations was considered to be a bedrock principle of conservatism.  No less a conservative oracle than George Will said so.

Sadly, it appears that the times, they are a-changin', but not in the way that Bob Dylan meant.

Conservatism in America is now a movement to transform America into a theocratic plutocracy, one in which the only civil liberty is the right to use and own a gun--but only when the theocratic plutocrats permit it.  This is not, of course, a majority movement.  Thankfully, most Americans are committed to a more pluralistic, consensual vision of how to conduct the business of the nation.

That's the good news.  The bad news is that the theocratic plutocrats are well aware of this--and have no compunctions about thwarting democracy to advance their alternative vision.  The Tea Party, and its Wall Street sponsors, may claim that their vision is centered around defending the original intentions of the Framers.  But they have no compunctions about burning the Constitutional village in order to save it.

Shutting down the government is bad enough.  That was a decision that put the most vulnerable members of our society at risk, including children with serious illnesses.  But holding the world economy hostage by risking default on the national debt--a debt that is two-thirds the responsibility of their Presidents and their policies--is even worse.  No government in the history of the Republic could ever claim any type of electoral mandate to do that.

And that is why they could not rely on democratic process to attempt to make it happen.  They had to rely on this, which is the most flagrant assault on the national legislative process ever committed.  A party that has the majority of seats in a legislative body, and uses such a tactic, has no right to hold the majority of seats in any body.  Such a party has essentially embraced Fascism. I'm not one to routinely push the Hitler button in making a political argument but, in this case, no softer term will suffice.  Do you need proof?  Well, let's put it this way:  if you're operating under the assumption that the shutdown-default extortion was a "mistake" from which the current thugocracy in the House of Representatives will learn from, think again.

I applaud the President, congressional Democrats, the media and the MAJORITY of the American people for looking extortion in the eye and not blinking.  I understand why the Democrats wanted a short-term solution to this manufactured crisis, as a tactic to give them the ability to undo the sequester cuts.

Let's hope their tactical thinking stays sharp.  And let's hope that the newly-found steel in their spine stays put.  And let's hope, and pray, that the American people vote in 2014 like democracy depends on them.

Because it always does.  And never more so than now.

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