Taking the debt ceiling hostage is sooo 2013. The Republicans had their fun with that game for a few years, taking the economy and pushing it to the brink of collapse, but you can't expect to play the same game forever. Shutting down the government? Sure, they had fun with that, too, but they know they can't go back to that too often if they hope to win any elections (Americans short term memory isn't that bad). No, a new plan was necessary, and sure enough, they seem to have found it:
With a fight over Social Security brewing in the new Republican Congress, advocates are worried that a possible GOP angle is to turn Social Security into a perennial crisis in much the same way raising the debt limit has become. By setting up a series of forcing events, the argument goes, Republicans would be able to create an ongoing crisis atmosphere around Social Security that would create a pretext for dramatic changes to the 80-year-old program.
I'm not sure how Republicans have gotten away with their never-ending quest to eliminate Social Security while still claiming that that isn't their goal. Voters don't ever seem to hold them accountable, and so here we are. They won't stop their assault on Social Security, especially now that they control Congress, until the job is done. It's up to the rest of us to expose their plans for what they are.
Cross posted at donatidaily.com