A Shutdown Reveals the Transformation of the GOP

[EasyAce]

Republicans used to force government closures in the name of fiscal restraint. Now they’re digging in for the sake of the profligate wall.
By Charles J. Sykes
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/gop-shutdown-shows-transformation-gop/579184/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_term=2018-12-31T11%3A00%3A07&utm_source=twitter

Republicans used to shut down the government in the name of fiscal restraint. Now they’re digging in for the sake of a boondoggle. This Trump-era shutdown could well become the longest ever, eclipsing the Clinton-era 26-day standoff over Medicare spending, and the Obama-era 16-day standoff over Obamacare. GOP tactics in the past may have been misguided, but at least the party was in theory fighting on behalf of its signature goal: reducing the size of the federal government.

This time, there is no talk of budget cuts, recisions, reform, or sequestration. After years of warning about the debt and the deficit, the alleged budget hawks have fallen silent. Even for the ideological performance artists in the Freedom Caucus, this shutdown is all about actually increasing spending for, of all things, the Wall, a Stone Age technology to deal with an Internet Age noncrisis.

The wall is a proposed boondoggle to rival Alaska’s Bridge to Nowhere. It would go head-to-head with Trump University as a monument to wasteful spending. It would also serve as a monument to the transformation of Republican ideology. For Republicans, concern over excessive government spending is so last president.

. . . Leaving aside the ugly symbolism of the United States building a massive border wall, it would require the promiscuous use of eminent domain to seize private property, trigger an environmental nightmare, and cut off vast swaths of territory from access to natural assets such as the Rio Grande. Could it be that even private-property rights have gone the way of spending cuts and fiscal restraint? If Ann Coulter wants a wall, she must get her wall.

It seems fitting that Speaker Paul Ryan is leaving the stage at this juncture in this way. According to The Washington Post, “Ryan’s last moment on the House floor came Saturday evening when he gaveled the empty chamber shut, the last legislative session of 2018 going out with a whimper.” Picture this man who supposedly devoted his entire career to deficit reduction, just going through the motions in the service of a profligate mania. He’s not pretending anymore. Neither is the party.

[Frank Cannon]

GOP tactics in the past may have been misguided, but at least the party was in theory fighting on behalf of its signature goal: reducing the size of the federal government.

Misguided doing what the author is arguing is the only reason for a shutdown. Pretty much invalidates every single thing this clown is trying to sell.

[Wingnut]

GOP tactics in the past may have been misguided, but at least the party was in theory fighting on behalf of its signature goal: reducing the size of the federal government.

Misguided doing what the author is arguing is the only reason for a shutdown. Pretty much invalidates every single thing this clown is trying to sell.

Chuck is a Wisconsin liberal masquerading as a conservative.  He probably is friends with Once-ler.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Sounds like Mr. Sykes starting drinking early yesterday. 

[corbe]

   Here's a song for you Trumpers (and demonrats)

Janis Joplin - Cry Baby


Sorry...

[goodwithagun]

Republicans used to force government closures in the name of fiscal restraint. Now they’re digging in for the sake of the profligate wall.
By Charles J. Sykes
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/gop-shutdown-shows-transformation-gop/579184/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_term=2018-12-31T11%3A00%3A07&utm_source=twitter

The longer the shutdown the better for Trump. The electorate need to see how unaffected their lives are by a shutdown, and then Trump needs to use his Tweeting for good (for a change) to highlight that point. If he’s a true conservative he’ll use this entire situation to shrink big gov.

[truth_seeker]

Chuck is a Wisconsin liberal masquerading as a conservative.  He probably is friends with Once-ler.

plus "conservatives" Paul Ryan, Benny Sassey, Jeffey Flakey boy, et. all.

running away to their new $even figure careers,carry the message for big lobbyist concerns.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

"the Wall, a Stone Age technology to deal with an Internet Age noncrisis."



Dr Mr Sykes;

Stuff it Bozo.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-02/us-fires-tear-gas-mexico-violent-mob-migrants-rush-border

Reuters reports that clouds of the noxious gas could be seen wafting up from around the fence at the border. One migrant picked up a canister and threw it back into U.S. territory.

More than 150 Central American migrants approached an area of the border in Tijuana in the Playas neighborhood near the beach late on Monday.

    Migrants said they thought security measures might be relaxed due to the New Year’s holiday.

    U.S. security personnel fired tear gas into Mexico after midnight as some migrants prepared to climb a border fence, according to the Reuters witness. During a second attempt, migrants began to pass youths and children over the razor wire along the fencing to the U.S. side.

    U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Katie Waldman called the group “a violent mob” and said they had thrown projectiles at agents who responded with “the minimum force necessary to defend themselves.”

    “Congress needs to fully fund the border wall,” Waldman said in a statement.