Watching the whole thing from a European perspective, it all seems too bizarre to be true, and yet, it is happening. Of course, in a parliamentary government with proportional representation, this sort of hi-jacking of a major party is almost impossible to do. That's one of the many reasons why people on this side of the big water find the whole thing to be so unreal and difficult to take seriously. There they go again, those crazy Americans. Hard to worry about it. But worry we all should.
With all the diaries about the rapid fade-out of Obama-care as the ostensible justification, the lack of the ability of Republicans to explain what might lead to a resolution, and the indications that they not only have no intent whatsoever of ending the shut-down but seem hell-bent on driving the country and the world over the economic cliff of not raising the debt limit, it seems more and more that Rachel Maddow's assessment is spot-on: elect these people, and they will burn the place down.
But I fear the danger goes far deeper than any economic ruin they might cause in the near term. They must be not only be stopped, but they must emerge from the whole debacle so badly humiliated and discredited that they never again have any hope of playing any real role in American politics. I has to do with Who These People Really Are. I can think of no better illustration than a clip from the 1983 film The Dead Zone. For those who haven't seen it, it's based on a Stephen King novel about a man who lies in a coma for 5 years after a road accident, and when he awakes, he discovers that he has the power to see into someone's future if he touches them. At a political rally, he shakes hands with Greg Stillson, an opportunistic climbing politician who is running for the Senate, the very likeness of a Paul Ryan or a Ted Cruz. He sees Stillson's future, after he has become president, and what he sees is a perfect depiction of the sort of fanatical dedication to one's own megalomaniacal delusions which this kind of person is capable of. A perfect lesson for why they must be stopped. Enjoy!