A Congress that is Planning to Move to Enhanced Gridlock

So much of Washington today is about negativity. Reversing policies. Blocking bills that have already been passed by defunding them in the budget. Demanding pushbacks at the expense of shutting down the government and defaulting on our national debt if need be. Despite the lowest Congressional approval ratings in recent memory, the “nattering nabobs of negativism” (I salute you Spiro!) are committed to have their way even if it creates a job-killing, economy decimating and spirit crushing shuttering of government. If we cannot get our way through the legislative approval process, say senior Republicans, we will hold every American ransom until we get it through the back door.

Here is a verbatim restatement of a recording of GOP Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (above), telling a conservative group assembled by the legendary Koch brothers what the GOP will do when, it arrogantly assumes, it wins control of both houses of Congress in the fall elections: “‘In the House and Senate, we own the budget,’ he said, explaining that the initial blueprint on taxes and spending does not require the president’s signature. ‘So what does that mean? That means that we can pass the spending bill. And I assure you that in the spending bill, we will be pushing back against this bureaucracy by doing what’s called placing riders in the bill. No money can be spent to do this or to do that. We’re going to go after them on health care, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board. All across the federal government, we’re going to go after it.’” New York Times, August 27^th.

There are still “little things” like the filibuster rules that would require a 60-seat GOP in the Senate, an unlikely event even if control shifts to the Republicans. For Democrats, struggling against bad odds, such statements are like manna from heaven. You couldn’t pay for a more self-destructive statement than the one above. The election approaches, and the tilt is still in favor of the GOP, but perhaps those words will resonate with voters who actually want their government to do positive things. Tank the environment and let corporate tax dodger and Wall Street side-step paying taxes, all the while shipping more jobs overseas, and perhaps voters will be scared.

If these above policies can be implemented, for terrified Democrats picturing two years of living hell until the 2016 Presidential and next set of Congressional elections, the only silver lining to them is an infuriated electorate that could easily hand the Presidency and both houses of Congress back to them… to screw up in their own way. Whatever happened to horse-trading democracy? Oh, I am dating myself. That hasn’t happened in… well, a very, very long time. Compromise has long since left the building.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it is deeply sad that politicians really do not seem to care what damage they inflict on the rest of us to stick to their uber-polarizing agendas.