All the loose talk about shutting down the government this fall gets some politicians and voters excited, because they are convinced that the federal government is an absolute evil, and that programs that help the poor, such as Food Stamps and Affordable Health Care, are targeting their hard-earned savings. You might say it is the flowering of conservatism in America, but you might as easily say it is an attempted coup of the will of the majority. Some might even call it “jihad.”
We have come to a strange turn in American history, when those aspiring to the highest offices in Washington are campaigning to destroy it. It has become a popular theme in some parts of the country, but it has crossed the border of healthy argument to sinister subversion. If the leaders of this movement had Arab or Russian surnames, people might be whispering about “propaganda” or “terror,” but with names like “Cruz” and “Rand” and “Rubio” and “Boehner” we have given them a pass and called them “patriots.”
As Gail Collins pointed out in her Thursday column (“Politics of a Screeching Halt,” N.Y. Times, August 1, 2013), the three loudest naysayers are relative novices in Congress, but they have discovered the fastest route to power is declaiming against most of the legislation on the floor and some legislation that has long since passed (the Affordable Care Act). They have discovered that they can make it impossible for the party in power to govern and subsequently campaign on the claim that nothing has been accomplished. For lack of stimulus, the economy will falter, and for lack of implementation, the Affordable Care Act will not reach expectations in 2014 and 2016.
The strategy of sabotage did not work in 2012 and it will not work again in 2016, but in the meantime it is undermining the economy and the struggling middle class. While larger numbers of the unemployed and the underemployed fall below the poverty line, the right-wing demolition crew fire-bombs the programs that could save them. It is a national tragedy that “Immoderates” are able to control the flow of legislation in Congress without a majority mandate.
The silent majority of Congress needs to step up before the fall rendezvous with government shutdown. Regardless of all political differences there ought to be a hidden consensus that government should act and pass legislation, because the majority of Americans believe this. To allow a few vocal saboteurs to control the flow of legislation and its economic consequences is a sign of moral apathy. Above all, this moral apathy is what stirs Americans to give Congress its lowest favorable rating in history. That apathy must be challenged.
We have already seen p0liticians break ranks over issues like immigration and privacy. It would be more noble yet to break ranks over the integrity of government. Already there has been dissension in the Republican Party about the Draconian budget-cutting measures placed on the House floor. Before the federal government is brought to its knees again by fiscal hostage-takers, the conscience of Congress needs to stir and take a stand. It would send a message to our friends and foes alike that America still has an active core and a heart for the majority of its citizens. It would revive our pride in democracy.
Before another budget is taken hostage or another vote against the Affordable Care Act is perpetrated, the coalition of the reasonable must step up! If there is a conscience still alive on Capitol Hill, let it speak against the few who wage sabotage and destruction. Death to unprincipled legislating! Death to obstructionism and opportunism! Death to the American jihad!!