This post expands on a comment I made in LaFeminista's reclisted post...
On Monday, President Obama said this about the Republicans' government shutdown:
Keeping the people's government open is not a concession to meet. Keeping vital services running and hundreds of thousands of Americans on the job is not something you give to the other side. It's our basic responsibility. [...] You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, or just because there's a law there that you don't like."
It was a great turn of phrase, one that many people—including myself—almost immediately posted to our Twitter feeds and Facebook walls. Because it's true. For sane legislators from both parties who truly understand the important role the federal government plays in our economy, culture, and day-to-day life, it's all but a given.
It shouldn't be a "concession" to keep government operating. It shouldn't be a "concession" to raise the debt ceiling. Those are part of the job description for Congress. And rhetorically, it's a brilliant move, a logic that makes Congress look like they're putting their ideology before their duties (which, of course, also has the benefit of being true).
But I think that we need to acknowledge something that's not being said:
For many in the Tea Party, keeping the government open is a concession.
I'll explain on the other side of that little orange curly-que thing.
Hearken back to me to the days of yore, a time of insanity when a great parade of buffoons argued with one another to see who could say the most foolish thing, all to win over the hearts of people who thought tricorn hats were cool.
I'm talking about the 2012 Republican primary.
"I will tell you, it’s three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone... Commerce, education, and the, um, what’s the third one there ... oops."
If Rick Perry hadn't screwed up the line, it would have gotten a standing ovation from the Tea Party audience instead of snickers—because they really
do think that about 75% of federal government spending is wasted. They think the federal government has too much power and does too many things that should be taken care of by the states, localities, or the private sector. That's a basic tenet of Tea Party ideology.
And the federal government under shutdown conditions—with 800,000 workers furloughed—is really just about as big as they want it.
We can see that in Fox News labeling this week a "government slimdown" instead of a shutdown—it's like a diet, something that needs to happen so the federal government can shed some of its fat.
We can see that in Reince Priebus's grandstanding over the World War II Memorial, the idea that voluntary charitable donations can fill in where the federal government once was.
We can see that in the piecemeal spending bills the Republican House passes whenever something else makes them look like assholes for shutting the government down—the idea that the real damage of the shutdown is just a few unintended consequences, which can quickly be rectified by Congress.
To the Tea Party, most of the federal government should be shut down. They think the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Housing Administration, the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition and education programs, and pretty much the whole Department of Labor should be getting no funding and should be shuttered permanently.
For them, the shutdown isn't an unintended consequence or even a bargaining chip; it's an ideal situation. That's why the crazy lady said that Republican Congresscritters (at least, the ones that she talks to) are "the happiest I've seen [...] in a long time"—not because of "leverage," but because they think they've won.
The American people, they think, will come around as the shutdown continues and they realize that they really didn't need most of the federal government.
This is a slimdown, after all! The diet we tried before (the sequester) didn't go far enough; we need to do even more, and this new diet is just the ticket! Just try working out and eating your vegetables for a while, and you'll just love the way they make you feel!
When you think about the shutdown from that perspective, then funding the "non-essential" services of government at all is a notorious compromise of their principles.
Appropriating any funds to the Department of Labor or the EPA is a concession, because they would be conceding the very existence of those government programs instead of zeroing out their funding and shutting them down permanently.
From that perspective, passing any CR, clean or not, even at sequester levels, is like breaking down and eating half a chocolate cake a few days into your new diet and exercise plan. Passing any debt-limit hike is like canceling your gym membership, making a hundred batches of cookies, and daring yourself not to eat them. The government shutdown is what they think the country needs.
Which is why I completely support this administration's position: No negotiations, no compromise, and no deal until the Tea Party has been broken.
President Obama and the Democratic Congressional leaders are right not to even go to the table until the Tea Party is forced to accept that whether or not they believe that the EPA and Department of Labor shouldn't exist, they're not going to be running the show anymore.
And if that costs John Boehner his speakership for passing a CR or debt-ceiling hike with the votes of Democrats and swing-district Republicans, then so be it.