Well, it would be the political equivalent if the quasi-religious right – AKA Tea Party libertarians – don’t come to their senses.
Many of history’s greatest calamities have been the result of delusions – false perceptions of reality (“imperfect information” in the jargon of economics) coupled with a willful egotism that ignores the stakes of others and discounts their likely reactions. Thus, in 1861 the southern slave states thought they could secede from the union with impunity. In 1941 Hitler thought his Wehrmacht would quickly defeat the feckless Russians. And in 2011 the Tea Party Republicans think they can force their vision of minimal government, and “free markets” that have been “liberated” from an oppressive state, onto an electorate that strongly disagrees with their naïve and idealistic vision. In the process, these misguided crusaders would also trample on the concept of fairness – not only President Obama’s version but the bipartisan “Gang of Six” proposal as well.
We’re now at the “drop dead” date, and it could be an economic Armageddon for this country – nothing good can come from it – unless there is a last-minute religious conversion on the right. History provides few comforting precedents. The odds are in favor of a self-inflicted disaster. What have we come to?
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The situation is dire, but I think we need to remember the robustness of complex systems (if we can assume that American Society qualifies). Although the rhetoric of those negotiating is designed to placate special interest groups I believe that sufficient ties to economic reality exists among these negotiators and a significant number of their constituents that the disaster posed by the deadline can be averted. There is an opportunity here! I think the brittle concepts that drive the Tea Party Republicans understanding of the economy will drive the American public to a decision point: whether to except the traditional accounting of economic reality which deifies a few ranking economic players or to form one that is more inclusive of the experience and aspirations of a wide number of global citizens.
ReplyDeleteKeith Briggs
Langhorne, PA