I don't think there was much hope of the Democrats winning the shutdown, at least not without irreparable harm to the United States. That said, surrendering a few days after a stunning electoral victory was an ignominious way to lose. It's dispiriting for the party membership, who are going to blame it on the Democratic leadership.
The Republican party is shown itself willing to take literal millions of hostages to have its way. This is now a party on par with the Nazis or the Soviet and Chinese communists in its willingness to kill and should be treated accordingly.
I wonder if the Democratic party will split into progressive and conservative wings. It would be an awful time for that to happen, but I'm not sure there's likely to be any good time. I also wonder if there will be violence. Cutting people's health care is going to kill people, by a Kaiser family foundation estimate Bernie Sanders quoted, at a rate of 50,000 a year. And when people are dying, that is when violence begins to seem like an appropriate response.
No comments:
Post a Comment