In my previous diary, I outlined the concept of "Heads I win, Tails You Lose" politics, where our government is designed to be thrown into a screeching halt by those who do not like government, and how being either a majority party and a minority party is of favorable circumstance to the republicans.
With this entry, I sort of continue on that approach with the nihilistic attitude of those disengaged in our government, and how that too favors the republicans. I'm tentatively calling this a "feedback loop".
Looking at polling data, there is a general consensus amongst the represented that the republicans are the most responsible for the government shutdown. This is slightly comforting to some, but the real news, I think, is how effective the republican messaging has been:
Source: AP
Overall, 62 percent mainly blamed Republicans for the shutdown. About half said Obama or the Democrats in Congress bear much responsibility.
I find such results to be almost incredulous. Anyone who is engaged with the process knows what the deal is, and anyone who keeps up with the news even inconsistently knows how culpable the republicans are. They understand that you cannot govern by hostage negotiation - the republicans may control the House, but that's one half of one branch of government. The democrats still have the majority.
Still, fifty percent find the president worthy of blame as well in this scenario.
So, people view this as if though the whole of government is dysfunctional, which feeds directly into the viewpoint of a certain political party. "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Republicans destroy and dismantle government, then campaign on how dysfunctional it is, then get re-elected because they campaigned on the dysfunctionality of government.
It's a feedback loop.
Let's be clear here. The republicans have closed the government. The republicans are demanding changes to the ACA. The republicans are on the verge of making this country default. And yet somehow the democrats are being unreasonable here? They have just as much blame as the republicans? The president is just as responsible for not working with the republicans?
Only those disengaged in the political environment would see this as though government is the worst and dysfunctional. That, in turn, favors the modern republican party and represents yet another hurdle to democrats to overcome.