This week's drama in DC hits home. I'm a Federal worker, and my leave for this week was cancelled - I am now on furlough. Meaning that beginning October 1st, assuming the Congress doesn't pass some kind of funding bill for all or part of FY 2014, I won't get a paycheck next Friday, October 11th. Meaning that a lot of bills won't get paid. And THAT will affect my credit rating, folks.
Thanks, Boehner.
I say thanks to the Speaker of the House because it is in his direct power as part of his job to determine what bills get voted on and when. Considering that all 200 Democrats and at least (so far) upwards of twenty Republicans are willing to vote on a clean Continuing Resolution to get us back to work, that's enough (under normal working conditions) to get that bill passed.
But Boehner won't let it hit the floor. He is held hostage himself by the Tea Party wing of his caucus, such that he refuses to allow it to be voted on.
Why does that tea Party want to drag this thing out? Because they've been planning this thing for over three years, since before the election of 2010! Rachael Maddow has a pretty good take on this, along with plenty of video of Republicans threatening just that. Oh, and in at least one video, there's a conservative audience clapping, so this isn't and has never been any kind of a secret.
Just in case you've got some Republican friends claiming that the Democrats are at fault, here's a timeline of just how the budget process has played out this year.
So, what's the REAL reason for all this? Right wing politics.
For thirty years or more, extremists in the Republican party have been making their usual noise about a broken government, an evil government, one that is out to take your guns and restrict your liberty. For thirty years, they've been relegated to a very small, lunatic fringe of far right wingers using ultra-patriotism to disguise their hatred for the Union of the North and their long held wishes for a return of States' Rights. Of course, you and I and every other sane American knows that the real government has no such designs and is comprised of quite normal Americans trying their best to do a difficult job.
So, what does an extremist do when his most cherished predictions fail to come true?
You MAKE them come true. In this case, you take over the Republican Party and prove that democratic forms of government don't work by doing everything you can to prevent them from working as designed. You obstruct, you obfuscate, you dig in your heels and delay, and in the end, you make your point by making the government shut down (as you've been telling your constituents you would for three years) by extorting the President and the major party with something you KNOW they will not and cannot accept.
This is not an accident. This is not just wild, crazy people doing insane things.
This is a cabal of conservative right wingers determined to bring this government down. So, you ask, what will they put in its place?
Good question. I doubt that all them have a good answer. Many of them have probably been promised money, jobs, and security in some new regime, but I'd bet that the details have been sketchy and lacking. The money, I'd bet, has been good so far!
But look at their allies.
For those who have read my blog for a while, you'll remember my numerous writings about Dominionists. After this, go to the main page and click on the tag Dominionists, and you'll get a whole list of posts.
Read them, and you'll get a good idea what is probably in store. But don't count the Plutocrats out yet - they've had their moneybags in this, too, so look for some Corporate goodies thrown in, too.
Am I being alarmist? I don't think so. Look at this objectively. I know us lefties have been throwing around words like crazy, nuts, insane and a lot of others in a similar vein to describe Republican antics over the last five years. The word "stupid" has figured prominently.
But these are NOT stupid people. You don't get elected to Congress being stupid unless you've got some smart backing and advisors. (translation: handlers) Those handlers are not employed by stupid people.
There IS a motive behind this. People don't go insane on a national basis just because there's something in the water. Yeah, many of the conservative audience in Southern States may BE stupid. They may BE completely flummoxed by Fox News. But again, what's behind it? WHO is behind it?
Why does a Christian preacher get away with praying to god for an ARMED insurrection against a black President? Where's the outrage? Why hasn't every Patriot on the right ridden this man out of his TV studio on a rail, tarred and feathered?
Because it is all orchestrated. Yeah, call me a conspiracy nut, go ahead. But when the Dominionist-led Army rides into Washington DC and a Dominionist President is installed in the White House, don't say I didn't warn you.
I'm updating my passport. (After the government is reopened...)
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