Heads I win, tails you lose: The bizarre politics of government shutdowns
What insane logic dictates that the GOP is always responsible?
Certain things make your head explode by their sheer irrationality:
· The popularity of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate.
· The play-calling at the end of last year’s Super Bowl.
· Miley Cyrus.
· Candy Crush.
You get the idea.
The logic seems to be “if the GOP is in the minority and blocks the Democratic Congress from passing a budget, they are being undemocratic and obstructionist, and should be blamed for the shutdown. If the GOP is in the majority, and the Democratic minority blocks a funding bill, it’s still the GOP’s fault.”
The politics of government “shut-downs,” however, are in a class of their own. (I put “shut-downs” in quotes because the government doesn’t really shut down. A few parks are closed in order to inconvenience regular citizens, thus making a political point; a large number of – according to the government itself – “non-essential” government workers get a few days off, which makes one wonder why they’re there in the first place; and our elected representatives continue to preen and pontificate with the support of their huge staffs. Pretty much business-as-usual.)
Simply put, it is a logical impossibility for either the GOP or the Democrats to claim the other is responsible for the failure to pass a budget, absent some peculiar splintering of one party or the other.
Let’s just start with the basics.
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Angus DuBois
Contributor
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