US, or the 'Banana Republic'

“It’s a good day for the anarchists,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said bitterly.

And it is all because of a bunch of “banana republicans,” who do not know how to behave, and their “grown-up,” who is unable to exert any control over them. Of course this refers to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, hailed as a “banana king” by The New Republic. He did allow for this game between the (radical) right and Obama’s government, whose stake was delaying “Obamacare” and resulted in the government shutdown.

“For the first time in 17 years,” newspapers shout out all around the world. Eight thousand federal workers are on a forced vacation. Soldiers are still getting paid, but the Pentagon’s civilians were told to empty their desks. Postal and train services still function, yet NASA is closed. Flight controllers and jailors work for free. Parks and museums are closed, and if the situation does not change within the next few weeks, there will be no money for American veterans. The National Zoo is closed to visitors. It is really hard to be a panda in Washington, and it is even harder to be a federal worker.

Democrats Just Spread Their Arms in a Helpless Gesture

It is obvious that delaying “Obamacare” any more is out of question. It is now or never. If the president gave in, he could equally well walk out of the White House and never come back. It would be a negation of the last five years, writing off all the things that still need to be done. Don’t Republicans understand this?

The fact is they understand it too well and that is why they resort to the most drastic forms of expression. Washington’s shutdown has a symbolic dimension for extreme conservatives. It represents dumbness and the tragedy of a party that is falling apart in front of our eyes. Republicans’ biggest problem with the health care law is not that it will be a failure, but rather that it will work perfectly well and that Democrats will get another point from voters, thus moving America further away from the “Wild West” and closer to the “New Deal,” gay marriage and God knows what else. Anyway, the time when they start taking our guns away is approaching fast. If we are not allowed to die without insurance or ruin our budget on an appendicitis surgery in the name of civil liberty, then where is our freedom?

This situation is very hard for moderate Republicans and other party members who are less enthusiastic about how Ted Cruz and some of his colleagues are acting. Is it time to leave the party? To leave behind the Reagan glory, the political affiliations established over the years and go to the other side of the force? Many of them believe that their party has just gone over the top, completing voters’ disappointment. Responsibility for Washington’s paralysis rests solely on their shoulders. Overtaken by fear, Senator Peter King — the same one who met with the Polish “Smolensk” delegation back in 2010 — was calling up his friends until almost midnight to try to cut off this hydra’s head, yet with no success.

Democrats, also scared and thus willing to accept even a temporary and small budget, did not succeed either. The tea party hydra braced its arms against the House door and firmly said “no.” The nation does not hesitate to speak of the “tyranny of the minority,” claiming that the Republican Party has practically ceased to represent its constituents. As a matter of fact, surveys conducted by Republicans themselves show that their “people” do not support such extreme steps as government shutdown or paralysis. However, conservatives decided that it is worth trying — even at the cost of losing voters’ trust — to take another stab at stopping “Obamacare.” The nation is with them, they say.

For the nation is afraid of this enormous change called “Obamacare.” A new system, a lot of confusing Internet search results about the competing firms, disorientation of mere mortals, who face a totally new health care machinery and do not know yet what kind of creature it is. For sure, it is big and unidentified, so it is safer to run away.

The issue of a “paralyzed Washington” is thus purely political. Closed museums are just a symbol, a small firework in the Republican sky. The parties will reach an agreement in a few days — worse, if it takes a few weeks — but the consequences can be far-reaching.

Let us hope that by then Republicans will rise to the occasion and feed Washington’s pandas.