By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
I’d planned on tackling the budget this week, and the probability of a government shutdown at the hands of overeager congressional newbies. The Baggers are naively flexing their muscles to show ‘why they were sent’ and strike a blow against big government. Very simply, what’s going on — in the House of Representatives, in conservative PACs and think-tank planning sessions, in state capitols gone Republican and in the corporate boardrooms and press outlets they own — is a calculated frontal assault on the working class. This is plain old in-yer-face class war, a somewhat hysterical effort by the wealthy movers and shakers to regain control of the awakening public by PR campaigns and political influence rather than by force; force may come eventually, or at least we’ll smell it in the wind.
It seems obvious that we have come to an impasse that ‘politics as usual’ can’t even begin to address. With the nation’s belt already tightened to touch its backbone, a missed federal payday would cost penalties and defaults for millions of citizens. Seniors without their Social Security checks might not be able to buy food or meds. Public servants without their pay may not have personal resources to rely on,and these are the people who keep the world around us running. The possibility of government grinding to a halt is very serious.
Then why is it that so many of us miss the radical implications of this legislative collision? I think it’s for the same reason that, like the Georgia congressman at a recent town hall meeting, we tolerate without censure or repudiation a question like, “Who’s going to shoot President Obama?”
To plumb the depths of ‘why,’ we have to dial back a bit and look at history and the human condition. The GOP (in all its guises) has declared war on those who would deny them total freedom to exploit others. Examples? Easy and obvious: Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana. A classic case of overreach by a party that has sucked the nation into a vortex of confusion and emotional double-dealing. Now, while successfully bludgeoning the Obama administration for failing to create enough jobs to fill the black hole of unemployment, the GOP at the same time puts 800,000 jobs or more at risk with its slash ‘n burn proposals. The budget crisis gives them opportunity to pull the government down, defund existing policy, and recreate a conservative fiefdom.