Republican 'Clowns' Turn America into a 'Laughing
Stock' (Rzeczpospolita, Poland)
"This is an ideological battle about the prerogatives of
the federal government. The issue is extremely interesting, but when the issue
makes the most powerful country in the world a laughing stock, the participants
in the dispute cease being intellectuals and turn themselves into clowns. ... At
a moment in which so much is happening in the Middle East, and when the state
of the American economy has such an enormous impact on the rest of us, the rule
of clowns on Capitol Hill is no laughing matter."
What's happening
today in America are an example of a victory of ideology over common sense and the
practice of politics as the art of compromise.
Republicans
truly hate President Barack Obama’s health insurance reform, known as Obamacare. That is their sacred right. The reform also
lacks the support of a substantial part of the American electorate. They have a
right to criticize it and try changing the law by winning a majority in the
Senate and putting their own candidate in the White House.
The
fact remains, however, that the U.S. Congress has approved of this reform, the
sitting president signed it, and the Supreme Court ruled on its legality.
Moreover, the voters themselves confirmed it by choosing this president for
another term. As we all know, the matter of health care reform was one of the
main themes of the presidential election campaign. Republicans have wielded Obamacare like a baseball bat to pound Obama, but voters
decided that this was not reason enough to throw him out.
In
a democracy, that should be enough to end the debate and be done with it, but
Republicans continue their efforts to derail reform. To this end, they have
even decided to embark on taking hostage the most important project of the
legislature in any free country - the federal budget.
This
is no longer a dispute about what's good for the country. On that subject, the
representatives, judges and voters, have already spoken. This is an ideological
battle about the prerogatives of the federal government. The issue is extremely
interesting, but when the issue makes the most powerful country in the world a
laughing stock, the participants in the dispute cease being intellectuals and turn
themselves into clowns.
At
a moment in which so much is happening in the Middle East, and when the state
of the American economy has such an enormous impact on the rest of us, the rule
of clowns on Capitol Hill is no laughing matter.
When
assessing the backdrop of the budget struggle, it is worth remembering that the
shutdown - or the interruption of funding for the huge and increasing-by-the-week
federal employees and programs, does not include the salaries of Congress members
or their staffs.
