One more norm has gone by the books. The debt ceiling has been raised dozens of times over the last few decades, with no hullabaloo beyond the out-of-power party occasionally voting against as a political gesture – at no point has it ever been used as leverage to squeeze out some other political arrangement. Until now. Just like how the Senate never used to filibuster routine legislation and there was no presumption of needing 60 votes for everything. Until now.
There used to be rules. There were ways things were done. They were there for a reason – because politics used to be the art of the possible, the slow grind of hammering things out day in and day out. And you didn’t have this kind of blow-it-all-up nonsense because you knew you would have to come back and deal with these people again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after.
That doesn’t exist anymore. One party – and spare me the false equivalence; there is absolutely nothing comparable on the other side of the fence – one party has decided that literally nothing is beyond the pale and that the goal is to wipe out the other side. Thus the past two and a half years of scorched earth. Thus the threat of default that has already cost $2 billion in interest and will probably continue poisoning the economic recovery for months if not years. Thus the continual mainstreaming of the sort of insanity that was previously reserved for fringe preachers and survivalist nutters. All taking advantage of the fact that the media is in thrall to the magic median and that our current President is wedded to the belief that reason and negotiation can accomplish something even in this climate.
So here we go. Expect another government shutdown threat in September when the budget expires. Republicans will threaten to blow it all up, because they are a party of extortionist thugs, and Democrats will cave because they don’t want the car to go off the cliff. And the Fox-driven media will blame the Democrats, and the rest of them will wring their hands and cry “a pox on both your houses!” and with nothing to fear more than an equal share of the blame, the GOP will continue with whatever they can get away with.
This is the new normal. Idiots relying on the reporting of morons and electing assholes.
I want out. I deserve better than this shit.