Shutdown Roulette

I've been avoiding the news lately.  The farcical clusterfu*kery of the way this administration handled the red line that they themselves drew on Syria was just depressing.  The fact the Russian President Vladimir Putin ran an op-ed in the New York Times to twist the knife in a little more didn't exactly comfort me.  I'm becoming increasingly convinced that no one in Washington has any idea what's actually going on or how to do their damn jobs.   But that's way it's always been and that's the way it's probably going to remain.

So why worry about it, right?  To be honest, The Dan Patrick Show is a far more entertaining and much less heartburn inducing way to start my day.  The snark of Deadspin or the witticisms of Grantland are better uses of my time than Sarah Palin's umpteenth column on how Obamacare is bad, etc, etc, etc.  But the latest round of shutdown roulette has me thinking:  what are the Republicans actually doing?

Let's consider:  they don't like Obamacare.  But neither do a lot of other people out there for reasons both rational and irrational  Employers are cutting hours to avoid the mandates in the bill.   They're rolling back benefit packages.  Young people are getting hosed.  There's a storm of bad news coming and all it seems the House of Representative wants to do is hold bimonthly votes repealing and/or defunding Obamacare.

Why?  I haven't the faintest idea.  It's starting to get irritating really.  I mean, they know that it's not going to go anywhere.  Even if a dozen Democratic senators suffer strokes/head injuries of some kind and actually vote to defund Obamacare, I doubt the President will sign it into law and I doubt even more that both House and Senate can muster the votes for a veto override.  So it's a non-starter.  They know that.  The Democrats know that.  The American people know that.  Small furry woodland creatures living high in the Rocky Mountains know that.  We get it already, you don't like Obamacare.

But shutting down the government?  Eeeeeesh.  I'm not convinced by that.  (And understand that this comes from neither love of GOPers or love of Democrats.  I just like it when people on both sides play smart politics.  This doesn't feel like one of those times though.)  If your opponent is constantly shooting themselves in the foot, why are you asking him to borrow his gun so you can have a turn?  It would be an extreme move.  It would be a risky move.  And it's entirely possible that it would explode right in the faces of the GOPers that think they're being soooooooo clever and standing on principle.  Conservatives all over the interwebbles have been insisting that this is going to be a trainwreck- like we're talking the one in The Fugitive bad.  Assuming they're right, then why try to stop it?  Let it happen.  The Democrats and the President will be left holding the bag just in time for 2014 and the hangover will last all the way to 2016.  That's nothing but good news for the GOPers.

But the danger then becomes, what if they're wrong?  What if it actually starts to work a little bit- the initial roll out pains/bugs get worked out of the system and it starts doing some good?  While I applaud the Republicans for finally introducing their alternative bill, that's something we should have seen in 2010.  Then the American people would have been beneficiaries of an actual debate on health care.  Instead, you're left with the impression that the Republicans seem to think that putting your hands over your ears and going 'na na na nananananana, I can't heaaaaaaaar you' is good public policy.

The alternative could be a sensible one:  make it better.  Work with the President and the Democrats and present revisions and endless repeals and defunding.  Decentralize any power in the bill away from Washington.  Make sure it empowers individual people to make choices that work for them.  Make sure employers don't screw over their employees in a hasty attempt to conform to endless minutia and regulations.  Strip out all the pork and backdoor sweetheart deals and actually find out what's in the damn bill and make sure it doesn't suck out loud anymore.   That would be good public policy...

That has a snowball's chance in hell of actually happening.   So it will be interesting, as the Republican Party stares down the President, revolver in hand, barrel whirling away as they ready themselves for the next round of shutdown roulette.  Problem is, if you play roulette too many times, sooner or later, you get the chamber with the bullet inside.