The sorryass truth

Krugman has entered the acceptance stage of our grief:

[G]iven that the proposed Republican cuts would be even worse than those set to happen under the sequester, it’s hard to see why Democrats should negotiate at all, as opposed to just letting the sequester happen.

That is indeed the sorryass truth of our parliamentary kakistocracy--a nightmarish collection of quasidemocratic dreck that is relatively harmless if idled, but downright lethal when active. As Krugman notes, the sequester "will probably cost 'only' around 700,000 jobs," as opposed to the incommensurate nihilism of debt-ceiling collapses and fiscal-cliff swan dives.

And yet I endorsed both of the latter, because then, as now, it was "hard to see why Democrats should negotiate" with a fanatical, duplicitous mob.  

Which is to say, I'm skeptical that the extortionist wreckage will end at sequestration, as promised:

"Republicans are not going to take a stand on a government shutdown. We’re not going to take a stand on the debt ceiling. We’re going to take a stand on the sequester," said a Republican senator, who requested anonymity to discuss his party’s strategy.

Do you trust them? Assuming sequestration manifests in the kind of relative harmlessness that Krugman and some other mainstream economists anticipate, do you trust that the GOP will survey the unrubbled remains, cease its threats, and likewise choose no further harm?

I enjoy no such trust. A final showdown is inevitable, and when dealing with predatory hooligans, sooner showdowns are preferable to later ones.

Comments

[shsavage]

P.M., the fatal flaw in your dream is that there is such a thing as a "final showdown." Was Appomattox a final showdown? Were the passage of the Civil Rights legislation or the Voting Rights Act final showdowns? No, the reactionary forces just retrench, rewrite history, and come back stronger. One can only hope to marginalize for a decade, perhaps a generation, before the fight has to be won again (perhaps on different ground, but it's always the same fight).

“There are two great powers and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit.”
― Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife

The fatal flaw in many progressives is that they assume once a victory has been won, it's won for all time. But the forces of greed and hate never stop. Progressives should not hope for final showdowns, but "gird up their loins" for a permanent fight.

[Robert Lipscomb]

I don't trust the Republicans. I trust Obama.

I agreed with Obama's responses to the Debt Ceiling and the Fiscal Cliff. As PM notes, the cost for those two threats were much, much higher, and the hits on the economy from the deal were (as military people say) "accepatble losses.

Also, Obama did not have his political ducks in a row during those event. Now, he does.

He has laid out coherent, comprehensive and moderate plan for goverance through his campaign, nomination acceptance speech, victory speech, inauguration speech, state of the union addresss and all the other jaw-boning.

He is now beefing up his framing of this issue with all his current activities. Yesterday's "USA Today" front page documents that America and often most Republicans are now behind the president and his plan.

I sincerely hope the sequester does not go into effect now. As I have said before, I don't the cuts nearly so much as the timing of the cuts.

As PM and Krugman point out, if the sequester comes. there will be significant damages to jobs. If this worst case scenario comes to pass, these will finally be reduced to the level of so-called be "acceptable losses" and will be laid at the feet of the GOP.

It is high risk with the lives of a lot a people. It should be stopped. But this is the first time in two years the cost-benefit is such Obama can call their bluff.

Hopefully, the end of class warfare in the form of Reaganism can be won without the carnage of the worst case scenario. I will stand behind bama if he chooses to fight this battle to end Reaganism. Or at least weaken it until it can be drowned in a bath tub.

[Robert Lipscomb]

@shsavage: Excellent!