When I read last week that Congressional Republicans emerged from a closed door strategy session “giddy at the prospect of a government shutdown,” * I immediately thought of the ’60’s - the 1860’s - and the secessionist balls orchestrated to celebrate the coming conflagration that would transform Atlanta’s Union Depot from this:
into this:
*Nothing like the prospect of having 8.9 million impoverished women, children, and infants lose their nutritional benefits to give those worthies a case of the giggles.
Of course, now that Boehner has leaked that he’s not so keen on having the nation default on its debts, I doubt the financial damage to the Republic will be as stark as the above before-and-after illustrations; nevertheless, 300 mil a day, 200k furloughed workers, and the peripheral hit to private enterprise ain’t exactly a Dollar Store gift card [not to mention, no food inspection, economic data crunching, and (muffled choked sob) vacationers being turned away from National Parks.]
No, what worries me is the existential damage that this Republican blackmail/extortion scheme could inflict on American democracy if it becomes the business-as-usual option for disaffected radicals.
Imagine, say, a Democratic Congress demanding a background check on gun buyers** or else they’ll shut down the government and destroy the economy. Or slashing carbon emissions. Or forcing Ted Cruz and his angelic daughters to read at gun point Upton’s Sinclair’s The Jungle.
***Jay Carney’s example.
Van Gogh: Prisoners Exercising (after Doré )
Closer to home, the South Carolina’s House of Representatives passed a law yesterday making abetting the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act a crime. (Hey, whatcha in here for? Um, implementing a federal law the Supreme Court declared legal).
It just goes to show that ranking 48th in education can have real detrimental effects on the populace. Where were these morons when their history teachers were covering the War of Northern Aggression and Nullification? Did science teachers co-opt those periods to double down on Creationist Science?
Jeh-sus!
Governor Haley pacifying a student who hasn’t had breakfast
Perhaps, I’m over-reacting. Perhaps, we’ll never ever again have in Congress a group of lawmakers as wussillanimous as Boehner and the so-called moderate Republicans who would rather see their constituents suffer than lose their jobs.
But I wouldn’t bet on it.