Dear Editor:
Republican radicals have cast themselves in their own action movie and our nation has been cast in the role of backdrop just as New York City in the movie "The Avengers." Now our long national nightmare is over for a few months. Maybe?
Who won this shutdown? Defiant tea party legislators claim all was not lost. Georgia representative Jack Kingston defiantly stated, "We are letting our base know where we stand."
Don't they know? Do they know this stunt cost the government and taxpayers $24 billion dollars? Money flushed down the toilet just to make a statement? Republicans do not care about the deficit.
I say nobody won. The vote that was taken on Oct. 16 could have been taken weeks before because nothing at all was gained. But a very valuable tea party goal of lowering the public's opinion of the government was assured. Republicans charged to the bottom of public opinion and lowered public opinion concerning all of government with their antics. Hiring anti-government congressmen makes America dysfunctional. Meanwhile they draw their $180,000-a-year salaries with government health insurance they want to deny others. Well they won that. They are the most despised of the despised as they bank our assets.
What was lost? Hundreds of thousands of citizens were out of work and many will not get back pay. There was uncertainty for the world's financial markets and for families. Many poor and elderly citizens were deprived of assistance. The uninformed say it is wrong to call the recent house Republican tactics extortion. Our country cannot be managed by responding to manufactured crises month after month.
If you want to change established law there is a process. First you have to win enough positions in elections to effect legislation. In 2012 Republicans lost decisively the presidency and the Senate.
Due to gerrymandering Republicans kept control of the House while being out voted by one and a half million votes. This was a mandate for nothing.
Instead of getting to work, radical Republicans thumped their chest, sang hymns and clowned around federal parks they closed as they threatened government and the world economy. They embraced the old Communist Manifesto, "The end justifies the means."
Thank representatives Luetkemeyer and Hartzler for playing this game. They represent the tea party minority but not the rest of their constituents. They seem to enjoy being props in the Republican super hero fantasy.
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