Before I go on to make my main point, I'd like to clarify that this is not a diary with a partisan slant, meant to slam the GOP and praise the Democratic party establishment. I feel the same type of animosity towards both party (establishments), if for slightly different reasons.
Another point of clarification is that when I refer to "party establishment" I'm talking about the corrupt oligarchy and not necessarily about the entire party. You know, the politicians on the take, lining their pockets and selling us out.
But I digress... Dr. Paul Krugman wrote in his NYT blog, The Conscience of a Liberal, that the GOP has basically gone insane ("Chaos Looms"):
Over the longer run the point is that one of America’s two major political parties has basically gone off the deep end; policy content aside, a sane party doesn’t hold dozens of votes declaring its intention to repeal a law that everyone knows will stay on the books regardless. And since that party continues to hold substantial blocking power, we are looking at a country that’s increasingly ungovernable.
The emphasis is mine
If they are crazy, they are crazy like a fox. It's funny that what they are doing (in all the craziness) coincides 100 percent with the agenda of corporatist business cartels, i.e., ALEC.
You see, the U.S. Constitution is kind of a pesky obstacle to the treasonous alliances represented by billionaires, their business cartels, and the politicians on the take (who together make up the American Oligarchy, or Corporatocracy).
Much of the constitutional protections we used to take for granted have already been undermined (or done away with altogether)--with our acquiescence as the result of being manipulated through fear and propaganda.
But as is the case with every tyrannical class in history, today's blood-thirsty, rapaciously greedy tyrants will continue their oppression (and pushing their luck) for as long as we tolerate it.
The looting our the national treasure; the paralysis and dysfunction of government; the imposition of austerity (sequester and all the other non-sense) is all being done by design. Actually I can almost imagine seeing the business plan, the executive summary, the power point presentations--at an ALEC symposium.
These forces, which represent the proverbial "enemy within," are in the process of tearing down our system of government (a democratic republic based on the tenets of a Bill of Rights/Constitution).
By creating gridlock, and constantly pushing the government to the brink of a shutdown or default, they are acting as some sort of "wrecking ball" against democracy.
This is about money and power, in the final analysis. Push the poor and vulnerable to the brink, and you have more people to put into for-profit prisons.
Under-fund the proper operation of government (cities, states, federal), pushing many cities and municipalities to bankruptcy, and that opens the door for the suspension of democratic government, and the opportunity for further privatization (and looting).
Keep wages down (and keep pushing them down as far as they can go); prevent workers from unionizing; privatize the entire total-information-awareness surveillance Police State--for profit.
In closing, what's happening here is that these forces purposely create chaos and dysfunction, and gridlock helping bring about the conditions where people clamor for order and safety, a condition whereas our freedoms and rights are promptly undermined.
They--the GOP--are not crazy; they are actually brilliant in making you think they are crazy. They are systematically destroying the proper functioning of government, as ordered by their paymasters.