I don’t like this deal. The only thing I want from a government shut down is for it to never re-start.
But...
Whether this is victory or defeat will be determined by events yet to occur. If this is the start of a long and sustained trend toward fiscal sanity - that is; If this “deal” marks the “moment” that the “sea of debt began to recede” and the “heated spending began to cool” - it will indeed be a victory.
If, however, this is just a token measure meant to appease an ever growing tea party demand to slay this goverment Leviathan- it may be a fatal defeat for the GOP.
Just keep sending millions of those lottery style government retirement checks and tell all the private sector peons this is there big victory!
They'll buy it!
“Whether this is victory or defeat will be determined by events yet to occur. If this is the start of a long and sustained trend toward fiscal sanity - that is; If this deal marks the moment that the sea of debt began to recede and the heated spending began to cool - it will indeed be a victory.”
Quite honestly, the whole thing in Congress is going to stand or fall upon one person: Paul Ryan. Sure, he’s cast some votes in the past that Conservatives have disagreed with, but I don’t have much faith in any of the other leadership members.
If the other members were going to instill confidence in us, we would’ve some signs of life already. I mean, this is like rooting for the Chicago Cubs here...
“If this is the start of a long and sustained trend toward fiscal sanity”
How can it be? I mean, assuming the $38 billion dollars was a “cut” and actually meant something, the proposed Pub cuts, coming as they did off an electoral landslide, were measely by anyone’s standards. Nevertheless, Dems, while barely lifting an apocalyptic rhetorical finger (despite a few scattered warnings about the tragic fates of women/children/the elderly/minorities), were able to face down a clear mandate to get the measely proposal cut by a third. All they’ll have to do in the future is whisper “shutdown.” The precident has been set.
It was set back in ‘95, actually, despite the fact that I can’t discern any longterm damage it did to the party. Maybe it killed Newt’s higher ambitions, but who cares? We have all seen how great he turned out.
Pubs, meanwhile, behind shouts of victory, obviously know how pitiful is the situation. Which is why they complain about lacking the Senate and White House. But we all know what good they did when they had them.