A Mayor/Measure of Responsibility

In the United States, when the mayor of Washington D.C. rebelled against the White House he immediately ended up behind bars.

Sometimes, the tortuous path of the American democracy provides amazing headlines for local newspapers. The mayor of Washington D.C. was recently arrested near the Capitol for participating in an unsanctioned rally. However, such news did not surprise Americans, who have spent nearly two weeks anticipating the collapse of the entire American power hierarchy. Moreover, many Washingtonians are ready to support their mayor at any moment. A similar explosive situation, which threatens the White House with mass civil disobedience actions, has developed in many U.S. cities.

Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has every reason to consider his arrest as a political asset. In broad daylight, he and several dozen of his colleagues blocked one of the main streets of Washington D.C., and started shouting slogans such as “Hands off the city!”* However, the unauthorized protest did not last long. The mayor and thirty other people were arrested by the Capitol Police, which does not obey the city’s authorities.

The mayor spent only a few hours in jail. Then, Gray’s daughter paid a modest $50 bail, and he was free to go. However, it’s possible that the mayor will repeat his “heroic” feat the next day. Why is Gray so eager to be back behind bars? As usual, money is to blame. Big money, to be exact. Even more precisely, the city’s budget, which may soon be reduced. Among the proposed budget cuts are numerous social programs.

Americans, who are accustomed to live in debt virtually to all of humanity, suddenly appeared on the verge of a tremendous social shock. Increasing its loans would inevitably lead the United States to a default. And for the past few decades America has not been able to boast about solid government income that would cover all conceivable expenses.

What can be done? The economists are certain: America has to immediately start living within its means. However, the politicians cannot agree with the experts, because politicians know what it would mean to deprive their voters of rights and privileges. Certainly, there’s no chance of being re-elected for a second term if they do.

That’s why for several months in Washington Democrats and Republicans have crossed their swords in what for many of them will be a deadly career battle. Last year, Congress did not pass a budget for the current fiscal year. For several months, funding operated under a temporary measure.

Republicans sided with the economists and offered to immediately reduce budget spending by $60 billion. Democrats, on the other hand, understand that if they agree with their opponents, then the president’s already shaky rating will sharply decline. In the next year, the Obama will try to get re-elected to a second term. It’s obvious that Republicans are insisting on making spending cuts as quickly as possible in the hopes that he will lose.

This past Monday the hopeless political bargaining among the major political forces in the United States threatened to close most federal institutions. But on Saturday night, the leaders of Congress along with the Obama administration managed to come to an intermediate compromise regarding the extent of government spending cuts in the current fiscal year.

Although Democrats initially refused any budget cuts, they eventually agreed to cut costs by more than $38 billion. The compromise allowed Congress to adopt a temporary resolution to finance the government for a few more days. This week, the budget for the second half of the fiscal year (which started on April 1) will have to be passed by both houses and signed by Obama.

However, then there will be a new battle for next fiscal year’s budget. The fiscal year starts on Oct. 1. This time round Republicans, who hold many trump cards, will make every effort to finally tie the Democrats’ hands. By then, the election will already be at hand.

However, for now it is not clear which of the two parties benefits more from incidents like the arrest of the mayor of Washington D.C. On the one hand, Gray is against the Republicans, who insist on reducing government spending. But on the other hand, the mayor was obviously driven to despair. This means that Democrats are not running the country well.

In the meantime: The House Budget Committee, which is controlled by Republicans, unveiled a plan to reduce the budget deficit by three quarters in the coming years — from the current $1.4 trillion to $379 billion in 2018. The plan is based on reducing government spending by $6 trillion, in part by reducing subsidies for Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs, which Democrats had previously extended.

*Editor’s note: This quote could not be verified.