Wednesday, October 9, 2013
It is hard to believe that our government has been left no possible alternative than to shutdown. Understandably, the idea of breaching the debt ceiling is frightening as well, the idea that our government is technically "closed" at the moment is reassuring either. What I find most astounding is that Congress's salary has managed to be written into law, therefore Congress receives pay regardless of whether or not the government has shut down. Yet, it has not been written into law that congress must provide funding for our government. Political pressure is the only incentive Congress has right now to get the government back up and running, and scarily there are Tea party members willing to ride out a long shutdown just to make political gains. It should be criminal for politicians to use a shutdown as a negotiation strategy. At this time there are currently an extra 800,000 government workers who are unemployed, America's tourism industry is seriously hindered, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is stopping it's seasonal flu program. America is in a weakened state at the moment, and it is simply because Congress cannot pass a new stopgap that will not last even a year. What is the route of all of this chaos? The answer: A vast chasm in the Republican party. Several years ago the Tea Party mustered strong emotions from both Republicans and Democrats, and it still is doing so today. I don't believe that most Republicans believed just how serious the Tea Party was at the time of its conception, and it certainly has gown stronger and more conservative since then. Although I personally found myself agreeing with many Tea Party arguments, my personal opinion on the Party has shifted to one of disgust. Their cut-throat, uncooperative methods are not what America is looking for right now. This is a time where compromise is far more effective and achievable, and for Tea Party leaders to believe that the American public will put up with such extreme power plays is absurd. Americans will blame the Republican party for not being able to control their more extreme members, and they will take the blame for the shutdown. This will probably lead to the Republicans losing the House. Because of the Tea Party's efforts, I think it is safe to say that the Republican party will not being seeing very many votes in the next couple of elections.
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At this point, nothing looks good and nothing is reassuring. Its kind of depressing actually but what is there to do besides waiting? Is it not annoying and frustrating that congress still gets paid during a government shutdown, and its because of them that were in one in the first place? Because they cant decide on a bill to fund the government, it puts the government into a shutdown. I cant agree more with you on how absurd the Tea Party leaders rational is at the moment. Your completely right, compromise and agreement is the answer to our problems right now and the Tea Party leaders are pushing far from it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what you think of the argument that it is the President who is refusing to negotiate right now, and that it is the Tea Party that is willing to compromise. Obama's response to that is that he is willing to negotiate over a clean spending bill, but not about changes to healthcare--at least not right now. He leaves open the possibility that he will negotiate later. It does seem a bit implausible that a serious negotiation on a major issue will occur in a few days with a looming deadline, but other people are at least making the argument, however implausible we might find it, that this is what negotiation really would look like at the moment.
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