As Atrios said yesterday, “Governing by crisis is an undemocratic way for our overlords to try to avoid accountability.”
We’ve seen a lot of that lately. This is a problem with both parties, but it’s especially egregious in the Republican party because they quite literally believe that any positions but their own are inherently illegitimate. Like Our Drama Queen Mitch, who sputtered up a storm over this:
The time has come for a balanced budget amendment that forces Washington to balance its books. If these debt negotiations have convinced us of anything, it’s that we can’t leave it to politicians in Washington to make the difficult decisions that they need to get our fiscal house in order. The balanced budget amendment will do that for them. Now is the moment. No more games. No more gimmicks. The Constitution must be amended to keep the government in check. We’ve tried persuasion. We’ve tried negotiations. We’re tried elections. Nothing has worked.
Wow. Now, in a rational world, real conservatives would be calling for his head, because what he’s calling for here is a figurative coup. Elections have consequences, Mitch. But his reaction? Screw those voters, we don’t need them!
This is, after all, how they operate. From Bush v. Gore on down, that’s what Republicans have done: lied, cheated, stolen, suppressed votes — you name it. Why?
Because whenever voters understand what Republicans really want, they reject it.
The Republican agenda is deeply anti-democratic. I don’t think anyone can seriously argue otherwise, and yesterday Mitch McConnell opened his mouth and proved it.
Balanced budget amendment, huh? Oh sure, sounds good if you don’t ever think about it. But what you’re saying is that the United States government won’t have any wiggle room at all, say, for rebuilding after a 9.2 earthquake along the San Andreas fault, or a dirty bomb set off by terrorists. (Or by yet another offshore oil disaster.)
Of course, Mitch wouldn’t be able to get away with this if a Democratic president had simply slapped him down like a fly the first time he started talking about this nonsense instead of solemnly regurgitating the right-wing “kitchen table” belt-tightening talking points that have painted working people into an economic corner.
It would be nice if we didn’t have a wingnut enabler in the White House. Mr. President, don’t encourage them!
Hey Mitch we had a balanced budget but then republicans gained control of the house, senate, and white house and it was bye-bye surplus.
America has always had a very strong anti-democratic power group. In the beginning they debated limiting the vote to property owners only, but Jefferson counseled against that. He argued, not because of any fundamental belief in equality or the fundamental value of human beings, but because the landless needed some kind of outlet for their grievances, and if they would revolt if they did not at least get a vote. The money powers agreed to his idea, but immediately set about to do everything they could to control the power of those votes and make sure that nothing was allowed to happen without the permission of money. This is what we are working with here. Its not a matter of government spending or debt, its a matter of who gets the money the government spends. They want to make sure that there is plenty of spending, but that they are the only ones who get it. They also want to make sure that they are repaid any debts they are owed by the government, with interest.