Commenting on the ‘drama-filled months’ ahead– sure to include Republican party threats of government shutdowns, debt default, and political violence without precedent in modern American times– Paul Krugman tries to refocus our national priorities, writing that “The madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time”:
In the short run the point is that Republican leaders are about to reap the whirlwind, because they haven’t had the courage to tell the base that Obamacare is here to stay, that the sequester is in fact intolerable, and that in general they have at least for now lost the war over the shape of American society. As a result, we’re looking at many drama-filled months, with a high probability of government shutdowns and even debt defaults.
Over the longer run the point is that one of America’s two major political parties has basically gone off the deep end; policy content aside, a sane party doesn’t hold dozens of votes declaring its intention to repeal a law that everyone knows will stay on the books regardless. And since that party continues to hold substantial blocking power, we are looking at a country that’s increasingly ungovernable.
The trouble is that it’s hard to give this issue anything like the amount of coverage it deserves on substantive grounds without repeating oneself. So I do try to mix it up. But neither you nor I should forget that the madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time.
Other than setting aside the content of Republican party policies toward women, minorities and the poor, which could best be described as criminally insane, this Krugman guy is starting to make some sense.