On the surface, I follow the antics of Benedict Boehner and his goons with a sense of gallows humor but, deep down, I am flat out terrified of the hell they are bringing down on our heads.
Can we be honest here? Republicans are in the midst of a very real attempted coup. They have shut down the government and threatened to destroy the global economy. Benedict Arnold planned to surrender the fort he commanded at West Point because he was mad that he didn’t get a promotion. Republican’s didn’t get promoted to the White House and now they are proving themselves turncoats to the very democracy they were elected to serve and protect.
trai·tor ˈtrātər/
noun
1. a person who betrays a friend, country, principle, etc.
Complicating this reality, and increasing my fear exponentially, is that fact that abject hatred has been carefully and cynically been stoked. The “other” side is fanatically steeped in an ideology based on fiction and is convinced that anyone who doesn’t share their world view is not only ‘un-American’ but evil and worthy of Second Amendment remedy. They are paranoid, delusional and, worst of all, profoundly self-righteous. They have no concept of history or of how many of the things they despise actually helped make America great (Democracy, for one). And because they don’t understand or value the underpinnings of our success, they have no reservations about destroying it. The danger they pose isn't going to go away because they lose seats in an election. They didn't win the last election and it only served to make them more recklessly unhinged.
I don’t envy our President. His is in a Catch 22 situation. I agree that he cannot give in to what Republicans are trying to do, it would be the end of our America as we know it. On the other hand, if he doesn’t give in, Benedict Boehner and his crew seem more than determined to create the worst man-made catastrophe in generations, sparking untold and unnecessary suffering not just here at home but the world over. And given what little strategic planning went into creating our current situation (beyond "shut it down, shut it down, shut it down!!!!!!!!!!....!!!!!!"), we know for damn sure they don't have a plan to deal with true disaster once it does come.
Damned if we do and damned if we don’t.
I am very afraid about just how ugly things might become before they start to get better.