As I write, the doomsday clock ticks toward a first-ever U.S. government default on our fiscal obligations. The overused image for trying to manage the willfully unmanageable -- "like herding cats" -- has rarely seemed more appropriate.
It may be that by the time this column sees the light of day some kind of solution will have been cobbled together. Regardless, here are my reflections on the broader implications of the sorry mess we have been witnessing from Washington.
First point: This is a manufactured crisis. In particular, this is a crisis manufactured by Tea Party Republicans. Never before has the previously routine congressional vote to raise the government's debt ceiling, or borrowing authority, been leveraged to create a political crisis. It helps to remember that the real long-term problem of America's recent unwillingness to balance the budget of our federal government is separable from the manufactured short-term crisis of imposing conditions on raising the debt ceiling.
At one level, though, this has been a brilliant political strategy by the Republicans. They have forced everyone in Washington to debate concrete plans related to getting our fiscal house in order, with apocalyptic fears and an apparently definite time deadline holding everyone's feet to the fire. There can be no denying that the pressure this strategy has created has moved the negotiations far in the direction of their goals. If you hate their goals, you are losing your mind with frustration. But this paragraph is about political strategy, not the substance of their goals.
A key problem appears to be that as of now no one on the Republican side seems able to restrain the anti-government, anti-tax fiscal Puritanism of the freshmen and Tea Party Republicans, especially in the House. Their absolutist posture related to anything that can be construed as a tax increase, as well as their slash-and-burn approach to (selected) areas of the federal budget, appears to be beyond constraint. Some also appear quite willing to test out the apocalypse of what might happen after an Aug. 2 deadline for action. It has been a long while since we have seen anything like this kind of politics.
One could almost see the value of divided government and the mayhem of clashing core convictions -- if somehow, after all the political sausage-making, a decent deal could be struck. Democrats would be forced to cut government spending far beyond what they would ever choose to do if all the power were in their hands; Republicans would be forced to accept some revisions to the tax code that would raise more revenue, something they would never do if they controlled each branch of government. Perhaps we will get there. It sure doesn't look likely as of this writing.
As a Christian, I find myself uneasy with those voices all-too-willing to slash government spending indiscriminately, without regard to human well-being. But I also find myself uneasy with those voices that seem to defend every dollar of existing spending as if we are not $14 trillion in debt.
A recent analysis by Teresa Tritch in the New York Times revealed how we got from Clinton-era government surpluses to the current abyss. We borrowed $1.5 trillion to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, $1.8 trillion to pay for the revenue drain of the Bush tax cuts, $224 billion for TARP and other bailouts, $180 billion for the new Medicare drug benefit, and nearly $2 trillion for anti-recession stimulus spending by both Bush and Obama. Tritch places the total cost of new government policies under Bush at $5 trillion and under Obama at $1.4 trillion.
It would seem that the most appropriate response would be to reverse course as quickly as possible: We need to stop throwing money away in Iraq and Afghanistan, and while we are at it, stop the routine spending of $650 billion on defense. We need to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. It looks like we need to stop spending trillions to stimulate an economy that doesn't seem to be responding terribly well to this kind of intervention. And we need to contract rather than expand social welfare spending, though this needs to be done with skill and attention to detail.
I have endorsed the balanced "Call for Intergenerational Justice" offered by evangelical leaders Ron Sider and Gideon Strauss. This thoughtful document calls for major cuts in corporate and agricultural subsidies, defense spending and health care costs, while also supporting raising the Social Security retirement age and reforming the tax code. See the full document for more details.
A budget is indeed a moral document, reflecting the character of a nation. One character quality it measures is how a (still) wealthy nation treats its poorest citizens. A second is our capacity to live without the addictive power of dominating the world militarily. A third test is of our willingness to endure shared sacrifice for the common good. And a final question is whether we still have within us the ability to exercise responsibility and self-discipline. All these character qualities are being tested right now. All are pivotal.
Follow Dr. David P. Gushee on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dpgushee
Ari Melber: Media Blows Debt Crisis Coverage With Balance Bias
Evangelicals launch a Call for Intergenerational Justice as a ...
Jim Wallis: A Pastoral Strategy for an Economic Crisis
Jonathan Merritt: Christians Lament "Debt Crisis," Call for ...
A Call for Intergenerational Justice: A Dialogue | Capital Commentary
There IS a jobs crisis.
And the fact that we allow washington to ignore that, is immoral.
14.5 TRILLION and counting.
But just for clarity, the freshman are getting a bad rap for this. Only 5 of 12 Senators and 19 of 39 Reps who signed the "pledge" are freshman.
Also, the "debt ceiling Tea Party caucus" is chaired by Michele Bachmann. Its bankrolled through a fundamentalist christian shell organization called "Let Freedom Ring." The caucus has two PR firms representing it (CRC and Hamilton Assoc), and they are backed by the right-wing extremist think tank "Heritage Foundation". Just FYI.
If we had a few journalists around to dig into stuff like this, people would at least knew where all the crap comes from. The way it is today, media sources just reprint press releases from anywhere and then talking heads spout opinions about it. That's not journalism. That's confusion.
This entire fake-crisis could have been deflated immediately if we still had a free and independent press doing its job.
"Founded in 1984, FreedomWorks is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has hundreds of thousands of grassroots volunteers nationwide. The organization is chaired by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and the President is Matt Kibbe.
FreedomWorks members know that government goes to those who show up, and are leading the fight for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Join us!"
And this,
"'The real work of spreading the Tea Party brushfires was done by a small knot of take-no-prisoners young conservatives who worked at [FreedomWorks HQ] ... Their offices had the Red Bull-and-beer spirit of a fraternity or political campaign.'
—Kate Zernicke, Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America"
Since 1980 we have degraded the average standard of living, built mountains of federal debt, and transferred obscene wealth to the wealthy. Our military defense has become bloated to the point that we outspend the rest of the planet. And to what end? Are we the world's policeman? Who is the threat that justifies neglecting our domestic infrastructure in favor of overseas adventurism. The Cold War is over.
Finally, in 1981 social justice was taken out and shot. Greed is now a virtue. Billionaires are lyonized as "job creators" even though they fail to invest in their own country, sending millions of jobs overseas. Our highways and bridges crumble. Education is priced out of reach for ordinary Americans. The Glass Ceiling applies to both sexes--all but the hereditary rich. The wealth and income gap between caucasians and other groups has reached the point of inter-ethnic and inter-generational warfare as we shall soon find ourselves a nation of young minorities supporting elderly caucasians.
"Charity begins at the Ballot Box".
Social Security has nothing to do with our national debt. Why on earth would you want to raise the age for that. It's the only thing in D.C that actually works and works well. It's at a surplus til 2036.
Yes, budgets are moral documents.
Yes, this is a test of the national focus.
Would we rather invest in our ourselves, our communities, our children, our infrastructure, and help our neighbors?
Or, invest invest in the profits of multi-national corporations that are actively shipping American jobs overseas?
Would we rather invest in the tools of war with more than half the world's defense spending to act as unpaid mercenaries for the world's biggest corporations?
Or invest that in our childrens' futures, our industry, our lives?
Would we rather have the productivity of working people in America go to the very rich? The top 1% gets more than 23% of national income and are only subject to 3/7ths the tax rate of what working people pay.
Or, would we rather all Americans share in the productivity of America?