Today in US Politics

Breaking News: All the nothing for which any taxpayer could ever hope is still getting done!

Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, penned an op-ed detailing the dynamic that is currently crushing all hope of progress, or even meaningful action of any kind, in DC:

The civil war that has been raging within the Republican Party is over. And now that the House has voted to shut down the government unless Obamacare is defunded, it's official: The Tea Party has won — the far right is calling the shots.

This extreme faction and its captives in the GOP are so focused on undermining President Barack Obama and his plans to boost the economy and improve access to health care for all Americans that they're willing to drive the nation over the cliff. The only question now is what car these legislators will use: Will they cause a government shutdown, force the U.S. to default on its obligations, or both?

This is the desperate, reckless, path the Tea Party has chosen in its attempt to defund Obamacare, a goal they've decided to pursue even if it puts the financial stability of the United States in jeopardy.

The Party of No. No, people should not have access to affordable healthcare. No, people should not get food stamps. No, the richest people in the richest nation should not have to pay a penny more in taxes. No, higher education should not be more affordable. No, people should not be allowed to control their own reproduction. No, the duly elected President and the duly elected Senate majority should not have any say in the nation's direction. No. Nope. No.

The only direction in which the Republican Party is willing to move is backwards.

I don't know what the fuck country the members of this party are living in, but lots of people in the citizenry they're ostensibly meant to represent aren't doing well. Even the people who can afford to meet their own basic needs, who might even have some money left over after paying the bills, who are living within their means, are more likely than not a couple paychecks away from catastrophe, because not a lot of people Gen X and younger have any kind of meaningful savings. And if we did, it probably got raided during the recession for survival. All the shaming in the world about allegedly reckless spending doesn't change the fact that wage stagnation combined with the increased costs of modern life means that even the people who have the privilege of making a go of it despite outsourcing, unemployment, and the speed-up don't have the same quality of life, especially around the security of their lives, that the privileged folks in previous generations did.

People are insecure and overworked and underpaid and unhappy. That's not because they're entitled and greedy. It's because the economy is totally out of whack in favor of the richest few, leaving far too little for the rest of us.

And it certainly isn't because our government is doing too much for us.