A deal was in place. Two sides that have been biting and clawing at each other’s necks seemingly since 2008 were acting bipartisan and agreeing. The finish line was in sight. Then, for no particular reason at all, the deal came crashing down and everybody involved just shrugged their shoulders and went back home.
It was another deficit deal that should have happened but just didn’t. Members of the special Congressional committee on deficit reduction – including at least one Republican siding with the Democrats – had all tentatively agreed on a plan that would cut trillions of dollars from the national debt by means of tax rates (including raising taxes), revenues, spending cuts and changes to Social Security and Medicare. This supercommittee fell short just before the deadline, and decided to throw in the towels and blame somebody else.
Worst of all, the two sides couldn’t even agree on where the talks went wrong. Democrats say the Republicans backed away from their initial willingness to accept revenue increases in exchange in cuts in the growth of entitlement projects. Republicans, who seemed to be in agreement with the framework of the deal less than a week ago, point their fingers at the Democrats for being wishy washy and never really committed to a plan.
Maybe we shouldn’t blame Congress for failing to a reach a yet another debt deal. Maybe we need to blame ourselves. For being overly optimistic that anyone in this Congress could agree on anything and for giving them yet another chance. Because time and again every elected official has proven to us that the last thing they deserve is one more chance, but somehow they keep getting it.
A key aspect of the breakdown was the Jason Voorhees-esque Bush Tax Cuts. They’ve been slated to die for years now, but somehow keep coming back for sequels. They’re slated to expire in 2012, but some 11th hour deal will most certainly come through for the salvation of the legacy of George W. Bush.
Democratic Senator Joe Macnhin said of the deal “We cannot accept failure.” But somehow that’s all we’ve been asked to accept for quite some time. I think by now we’re used to the flavor of defeat. Of the negotiation breakdown, John Kerry said “If this weren’t so serious I might laugh.” Honestly, Kerry I’d go ahead and laugh if I were you. By now it couldn’t really hurt. We’ve reached a critical moment in our history, and we stand at a fragile crossroad. Never before have elected officials done more harm to their own country, and never before have the voters cared less.
It’s tough to place the blame here, but it’s no longer a simple Democrat-Republican divide. Now it’s between the powerful and the powerless. It’s an us against them situation, and it doesn’t look good for us. Because we’ve given away any power we had by being indifferent. We’re headed for a crash, and we really only have ourselves to blame.
No comments:
Post a Comment