13 | July | 2011 | Existential Ennui

Tags

budget, debt ceiling, economy, GOP, teabaggers

Like alien beings they seemed to arise spontaneously from the “grassroots” of America. Across the land, they gathered with funny/offensive/stupid signs and claimed they wanted their country back.

We laughed, we teased, and we wrote them off as goofy racists.

We learned that they were anything but grassroots, but instead with the creation of economic behemoths like the Koch brothers and political operatives like Dick Armey.

They were encouraged to chant “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it any more” about any perceived grievance, as long as they voted for Republicans to correct whatever issue got their dander up.

And it worked. The barely literate, and politically unsavvy sent a gaggle of Tea Candidates to Congress, taking the House, and swaggering around halls they have never seen before except in pictures, now confident that they would do as their constituents demanded–reduce government to a few paltry offices, such as defense and foreign affairs. The fact that such actions would be disastrous, well, that would require thinking into layer two, and TeaPeople can’t do that.

Now the powers that be, didn’t care much about the absurd expectations of the TeaPeople. They knew the Washington game–new freshman congresspersons were quite quickly told to shut up, listen up, and do what you are told. That is the way it is.

They were allowed to introduce and even pass all their silly social engineering nonsense. They died in the Senate. The railed against the new Affordable Health Care Act, huffing and puffing and feeling powerful.

Then along came the debt ceiling issue, one that has come up dozens of times over the years, and has always been dealt with by a simple vote to raise the ceiling, for there was really no other option.

Except the TeaPeople, understanding not even basic Economics 101, said, heck no. We ain’t gonna vote for more debt, are you insane? If any one of our new freshmen or even any of the old-timers in Congress dared to vote for it, why we will “primary” ’em. For the TeaPeople actually thought they had the power now.

The leadership under McConnell and Boehner sought in plenty of closed-door meetings, to educate these dunderheads, who simple smiled stupidly and said, “the people” elected us to stop spending. Even if we understood this “economic reality” you speak of, it wouldn’t make any difference. We like being here, and we can’t get re-elected unless we do as we are told by “our constituents”.

And they thought they had the right idea. “Just threaten them with voting no on the debt ceiling, and those Democrats will have give us what we want, and what we really want is to end government entitlements for the lazy no-good loafers and the dumb old people too stupid to manage their money.”

And so Mr. Boehner did just that. And the Democrats gave them cuts on tons of programs that dealt with women’s health, kids breakfasts, student loans, and stuff like that, that meant a lot to working and poor people. And the Democrats asked that we also close loopholes, and cut subsidies that allowed corporations to save billions in taxes. They asked that multi-millionaires pay taxes at the rate they used to under Clinton.

And the TeaPeople told Mr. Boehner–“don’t even think about it. Keep threatening, and demand that social security and Medicare and Medicaid get cut too.”

And he did.

And the Democrats agreed, but then they insisted that some few of those tax things be added. The ratio was 85-15% in favor of the Republicans. Boehner wanted the “grand plan” that would make him the architect of a great Republican coup. Every rational Republican, all three of them thought they had scored big.

But the TeaPeople, being stupid, as they are, said no. When David Brooks, the conservative columnist, called them irrational and immoral, they said he was really a Democrat.

And Boehner realized his goose was cooked. These people were nuts.

So Mitch, “the Turtle” stepped in and saved Boehner, offering what some are now calling “the great capitulation”. He pretty much concedes that the President can raise the debt ceiling anyway. He dressed it up with some “spending cuts” that Obama can ignore.

The TeaPeople are screaming for blood. They call for Boehner’s resignation. They roar “traitor” at every turn.

And the TeaPeople? Oh they are so dumb they haven’t realized yet that they have been made, how shall we say, irrelevant. They can’t read polls which suggest that the Independents who gave them a chance to see if they could actually do something, are appalled at their “agenda”, and abandoning them in droves. Recalls are at an all time high across the nation.

I believe that the Republicans will lose the House again in 2012, and Boehner will have zero to show for his two years as Speaker. He will forever be the guy who failed spectacularly, and was left powerless by a group of silly unsophisticated goofs who disappeared just as quickly as they arose.

And some believe that Obama and a couple of his political operatives pretty much had this figured out long ago, and just out-Boehnered, Boehner until Boehner blinked. And they just might be right. Obama gets the debt ceiling raised at no price–which is exactly what should have happened last spring. The Republicans get nothing and prove their extreme incompetence to boot.

Nice way to head into 2012.

That’s the way I see it. You?