It’s sometimes difficult to see the forest for the trees, especially if the trees are on fire. It’s hard to look past the shutdown and debt ceiling fight and think about what’s coming. But we must. This current struggle is just a part of the greatest crisis in the country’s history – a crisis which is not going to be solved easily, quickly, or painlessly.
A lot has been said about John Boehner lately – that he’s a coward and an idiot, that the Chamber of Commerce and the MSM have turned on him, that he must end the shutdown or else. Maybe, just maybe, he’s a bit smarter than you think.
Maybe he knows that the democrats are unlikely to turn out in large numbers in 2014, while gerrymandering and voter suppression have made many seats untouchable. The dream of taking back the House may be just that – a dream – while losing the Senate remains a possibility.
Maybe he knows that the Chamber, the MSM, and even the 1% are no longer the major force in Republican politics. After all, the chosen one, Mitt Romney, failed in his bid for the Presidency, even against the Kenyan Socialist Muslim. Maybe Boehner has noticed that the 1% only casts 1% of the vote – that their real power is to sway voters with their well-funded ads, and that the tea Party is no longer swaying.
Maybe he knows that, polls be damned, the Tea Party IS the force in Republican politics. And that the Tea Party is only getting started.
The Tea Party is not new.
It was not new when Nixon executed the Southern Strategy, the “give the bigots a voice” movement. The people who turned away from the Democrats for giving the blacks Civil Rights were the descendents of the people who turned away from the Republicans for giving the blacks freedom. The Tea Party was spawned during the Reconstruction, among the Klansmen and sullen majority who never accepted the end of the Civil War, and its aim has never wavered. They want to live THEIR way, and they are prepared to destroy America to do it.
America is in crisis, and the current impasse is just one small part. The country itself is on the line.
You might say that all this is over a black president. However, Bill Clinton was a born again white Southerner, and they went after him like rabid wolves. Race is not the issue.
You might say that the Republicans might break in two, but you might be surprised by which part turns out to be the biggest.
You might say that a broken party would end up losing the election and be relegated to a minority. Well, they lost the last election, and are a minority in the Senate. Has that stopped them?
You might think that they might back off, rather than cause the country to default.
You might be wrong.
Why would the Tea Party fear a worldwide economic collapse?
The rank and file wouldn’t. They are made up of the poorest in America’s poorest states. They would not miss the perks of living in a first world civilization because they have never had any of those perks. They have never had proper medical care, good educations, good jobs, nutritious food, or untainted water. The banks have always owned their homes; they toil with the threat of a pink slip over their heads. And now they want their guns. If the country collapsed, the biggest change in their lifestyles would be that they could shoot people and get away with it. They have nothing to lose.
The middle ranks probably see the Confederacy rising from the ruins of America, growing strong through Jesus and the Constitution, eventually dominating the world, while California and the North collapse under their decadence. They have everything to gain.
The upper ranks probably don’t worry much. So what if the economy collapses? Greece collapsed, and you don’t see Mad Max cruising through Athens. One big shakeup and the world is theirs. It probably won’t be that easy, but they’ve never been known to care about the fine details before.
I think they want the government to collapse.
Now.
I think this next election could be decisive.
Very.
More than that, however, the system needs to change, to lock out this kind of behavior. Filibuster reform, reforms to the voting system, and a full out attack on their ideas, behavior, and goals is needed. Right NOW.
Before it becomes impossible.