Football Politics

I've been thinking about writing something on this, but Cheryl says it succinctly:

In some universes, this would be unbelievable. A political party came into power when budget surpluses were so large that there was concern about what would happen when the US stopped issuing its well-regarded bonds. This political party took care of that by spending all those surpluses down into debt and, in the process, wrecked the economy, started a couple of disastrous wars and badly damaged the country’s standing in the world. Now that it has been voted out of power, with minorities in both houses of Congress, it still insists that St. Jude’s (Wanniski) tax miracles be invoked, even after the failure of last year’s try. Further, as the country rapidly slides into recession and the financial institutions stand by, furnishing their executive offices with $1400 wastebaskets, that expectation of miracles is so strong that the faithful choose financial immolation for the country rather than to go along with sin in the form of providing jobs for those for whom $14 wastebaskets are pricey.

But not the universe of the Republican Party...

Steve Benen gets their narrow view of the politics pretty much right. No sense in giving the enemy a success. Might as well let the country slide down the tubes if the alternative might benefit the Democratic Party. And hey, the free market will just right itself! That’s what St. Herbert said.

The Republican Party thinks it's a football team - in fact, they think they are "America's Team." It's about winning. Victory is the victory of The Party. Failure on the part of the country must be managed and projected onto political opponents so that The Party's image is protected - the country serves The Party.

Sure, they can disagree - unlike how many of us were told to shut up during the past seven years. Disagreement that's healthy for the country, however, takes the form of constructive criticism, not ideological propaganda statements with the supreme end of protecting The Party.