Guardian UK: GOP DWI?

[marmar]

GOP DWI? Otherwise I can't account for Republicans forcing a shutdown
With the 'no compromise' fringe at the wheel, this government shutdown can only be a political car crash for Republicans

Ana Marie Cox
theguardian.com, Tuesday 1 October 2013 13.40 EDT


It is difficult to write rationally about the shutdown of the US government, because it is not a rational act.

In a way, the job of pundits would be easier if there was a money trail to follow – or even some specific political beneficiary to the massive meltdown of governance and order that's occurred over the past few days (if not months, if not years). When congressional Republicans caved to the wishes of the National Rifle Association, it made a certain craven sense: the NRA pumps almost $20m into their campaign coffers; of course they'll do what they say. When Republicans push anti-reproductive rights legislation, it's easily traced to a fundamental strand of condescension to and mistrust of women (or most generously, a confusion about them).

Indeed, even the Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act has the clean logic of tit-for-tat. The GOP caters to big business' best interest, and they opposed ACA because of it interferes with the insurance companies' desire to keep operating as they have in the past: doling our healthcare with an eye toward profits and not healthcare. (That Obamacare doesn't actually fix that problem so much as ameliorate it (for now) is a topic for another day. (That Obamacare may actually benefit most businesses is a topic that for the day after.)

The GOP's intransigence over these political stands, whatever you think of them as ideological positions, stems from simple political debts and selfish political goals. Conversely, policy positions that stem mostly from ideology or even practical knowledge of the problem at hand have some inherent flexibility; you can reason with people who have arrived at their position through reason. If your main goal is to solve a real-world problem, you can make concessions based on new real-world data. When policy goals are held largely for political reasons, only political arguments can move you. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/01/gop-dwi-republicans-government-shutdown

[KamaAina]

1. Oh, I see. It's a metaphor.

The repukes certainly wouldn't actually get hammered right in the Capitol while they're dealing with this.

[MiniMe]

2. I think it would be LWI

or ALWI
Attempting to legislate while intoxicated