Robert Reich We’re told as children that ends don’t justify means. But that message hasn’t got through to congressional Republicans who are so opposed to the Affordable Care Act they’re willing to shut the government and default on the nation’s debt if they don’t get their way. Yet our system of democratic government is all about means. Whether you agree with the Affordable Care Act or not, our democracy cannot function if one party can repeal, delay, or amend a law of the land by shuttering the rest of government and threatening to blow up the economy. Fortunately, most Americans feel this way. According to the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center and USA Today, fewer than half of those who disapprove of the Act – including fewer than half of Republicans and those who lean Republican -- want lawmakers to do whatever they can to make it fail. Most of those who disapprove say lawmakers should do what they can to make the it work as well as possible. So Ted Cruz, John Boehner, and others who are willing to sacrifice our democracy for their own ends are out of step with the vast majority of Americans. But how do we stop these extremists? Where are the grownups in the Republican Party, and why aren’t they speaking out? Why isn’t the first President George Bush, along George W. Bush and former senior Republican lawmakers like Alan Simpson sounding the alarm? Why aren’t the captains of American industry who have bankrolled Republicans for years condemning these dangerous antics?
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 20:24:42 +0000