They Did It

They've gone and done it: shut the federal government down rather than abide a piece of legislation that passed the House and Senate, was declared OK by the Supreme Court, and is in the process of implementation all over the country.

Here's what Bill Boyarsky had to say in Truthdig about it:

Don’t write the Republicans off as totally crazy. They know that if Obamacare works, it will wreck chances for attaining their real goal—lowering taxes on the rich, wiping out regulations and widening even more the gap between the very rich and everyone else.

That is why they and their business allies are fighting so hard against the
Affordable Care Act and threatening to bring the federal government to a halt. If the Republicans lose on Obamacare, it will be nearly impossible for them to shrink government the way they’ve been dreaming.

People love conspiracy theories, and as a historian, I'm congenitally suspicious of people who embrace them. But let me say this: it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Republican party, the vast majority of the richest people and corporations in the country oppose anything that appears best for the common good, all of us. That would include laws driven by climate change, poverty of masses of people, and regulations by the government to restrain banks, multi-national corporations, and polluters. This country is falling apart, and our Congress is one of the main contributors.