In the movie "Thelma and Louise" the two smiling heroines drove their car over a cliff, while being pursued by police, in order to escape doomed lives. Bizarre, to say the least? Damned straight.
Which serves as a perfect segue to the Tea Party, which, if believed, and there's no reason not to, is willing to plunge the national, and world economy into a cesspool of quicksand. They are proud of being unreasonable and their monosyllabic language is "no". President Obama has indicated his willingness to just about give away the store by agreeing to spending cuts which would affect Medicare and Social Security, as a means of compromise in order to avoid financial catastrophe.
I do not pretend to be an economics expert, but I do have experience in mediation, wherein the goal is to bring together differing parties. But this requires both parties to compromise, not just one. Thus far, the Tea Party will have none if that. They say absolutely no to closing tax loopholes for the very wealthy and to rescind their one-sided tax breaks ordained by President Bush. Nada, zilch. It's their way or the highway. Hey, what the hell. Most of them are in the highest income brackets, anyway. They're not risking their own life style. They need, however, to be administered an information enema.
They have become unquestioning believers in an ideology. They have accepted a philosophy blindly, without critical examination. Are they really capable of understanding the fallout from a failure to reach a debt ceiling agreement on or before August 2? Do they understand the disastrous effect on Social Security and unemployment? They either don't get it, or they do but don't give a damn. Which is worse?
Interest rates will rise. On credit cards, home mortgages, auto loans, and student loans. New credit will not be available, at all. This mindset is suicidal and completely inconsistent with common sense. Yet the Tea Party is playing no-bluff poker using the middle and lower classes as chips. And the nation watches as if at a golf match with its screwball restrictions on crowd reaction. This is insanity.
For the immediate and most urgent task at hand, it doesn't matter how you'd like to resolve the future budget deficits of America, you just need to raise the debt ceiling, now.
But, of course, this requires the common sense to compromise for the common good, and on one side of the fence, there just ain't none of that. I'm gettin' a wee bit scared. True believers don't want to think of the consequences of discard. They just want to win, and table the ramification discussion for some other time, providing that time will be too late.
The President should stand tall and tough. He's made his fair share of painful compromise. If the Tea Party doesn't reciprocate. he should act unilaterally, utilizing all constitutional powers at his command to raise the debt ceiling in the national interest and spotlight those who didn't even want to throw the dice.
As he, himself, has so aptly said,"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH."
I love the labels the Tea Party throws around: they're "patriots," and those on the opposite side of the spectrum who want to bring the economy off the ledge are "America haters." Beyond belief.
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