Suppose that the Republicans had not taken over Congress in 2010, but rather the Taliban. Suppose further that they had demanded we institute Sharia Law in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. How would the Obama Administration worked with them to get a compromise? And before saying “No Way! No compromise with the Taliban”, we are beginning with the premise that the Taliban won a majority of seats in the US House of Representatives.
If you tried to argue with the Taliban that Sharia Law was wrong, against the Constitution and completely inappropriate for modern western society, they would simply reply that it is God’s will and that if you want the debt ceiling raised, you must meet the Taliban demands. What would we do?
I imagine that the President would (at the last moment) announce a deal for raising the debt limit in exchange for a requirement that men wear beards and that women’s face and hands be covered in public. This would be described as imperfect, but necessary to get a deal done.
Republicans are not the Taliban. They are not demanding Sharia Law and, in fact, oppose Sharia Law. The similarity is that Republicans are willing to blow up the American economy to further their ideology because they believe more strongly in the ideology than they do in the American economy.
After the debt ceiling deal goes through, government spending will decline as will economic activity. Government workers will be laid off and unemployment will increase. Tax revenues will decline which will require additional spending cuts. The Republican will blame Obama for all of this.
Those of us who don’t believe in the Republican ideology will have a choice to make: Do we hate the deal so much that we refuse to help Obama get re-elected and refuse to help defeat Republicans everywhere, or do we fight to root out Republicans where ever we can find them?
There is only one answer to the Republicans or, if it should come to it, the Taliban. We must campaign with more enthusiasm than they do. Michelle Bachmann could beat Obama. Rand Paul could lead the Senate. John Boehner could be deposed by Cantor or maybe Steve King. Sure, we can all move to Canada, but it will be much easier to defeat Republicans at every level.
There is only scant difference between Republicans and the Taliban. Their willingness to blow up things to achieve God’s will are frighteningly similar and we need to channel our anger to them and not Obama.