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People around the world are shaking their heads about the government of the United States. They don’t understand how such a large, powerful and important nation can be so dumb, so messed up and confused. Join the crowd, right?
One of the mysteries is why the extreme wing of the Republican party seems to enjoy this conflict so much. Why was retiring Congresswoman Bachmann running around saying how happy she and other members are this week as the threat of an international financial crisis loomed? Why were the tea party Republicans saying that things were going their way when the American public, in polls, was showing that it hates Congress and the mess that is being created? Why does someone like Ted Cruz think he did a wonderful thing by telling the House members to tie the end of Obamacare to keeping the government open?
The first explanation is that these people, especially someone like Cruz and Bachmann, thrive on conflict. That is how they get known, that is how they attract attention and that, ultimately, is their only strategy. They don’t have a plan beyond conflict, aside from hoping that one day the voters give them an absolute majority from the White House to Congress. They don’t know how to make careful deals to get half of what they want this year and then try to get more over the coming years. They want it all right now, even when our electoral system says they are not entitled to it relative to the votes gained by Republicans.
In a sense, the extreme wing of the Republican party does not want to “make a deal”, they want the disruption. They have a need to be seen as outliers, as those who “stand tall” and “fight”. You could offer them an 80% retraction of Obamacare, for example, and they would more than likely turn it down. Why? Then, they wouldn’t have anything left to fight against. All politics in America are about the fight and the show, but the new breed of disrupters has taken it to extremes. They think they can win by being disruptive or, if they don’t win, get more power through the disruptive process. They are following the lead of Newt Gingrich, who pioneered the “take down” style of politics in the 1990s that led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Under this plan, you don’t sit quietly and prepare for the next election, you do everything you can, right now, to first weaken then destroy those who have power and, failing that, you just make a lot of noise.
The other huge reason for this mess is that Ted Cruz and the extreme right live in an echo chamber. This alternate world constantly tells them they are right and everyone else is wrong. It is a world dominated by Fox (Faked) News, talk radio and right wing websites and backed up, in their home districts, by local newspapers that skew to the right and far right. All of this is abetted in a major way by organizations like Heritage Action, a lobbying and influence wing of the Heritage Foundation. A 31 year old activist at Heritage Action, Michael Needham, is telling the extreme right Republicans what to do. He and others like him are calling the tune because they are backed by millions of dollars in campaign donations.
The Republicans want to win. No surprise, because all political parties do. The difference now is that the Republican right believes it can keep on winning, through disruption and other tactics, even when it is losing elections. Ultimately, the voters are in charge, but, in the House at least, the Republican gerrymandered districts make change very difficult.
Doug Terry, 4:49 PM, 10.16.13
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