Irresponsible Games in Washington

It was our belief — a naive one, admittedly — that the U.S. Congress housed responsible individuals. We imagined senators to be of sound judgment, concerned with the fundamental, general interests of the American people, and at times that concern extends past U.S. borders. We knew elected members of the House of Representatives are more in tune with popular opinion. We could not imagine that they were not preoccupied with the health of the national and world economy …

Wrong. These representatives of the American people — who do not exactly balk every time an opportunity to teach the world a lesson appears — present a pitiful image of their prized democracy.

The topic at hand is budget management, the fight against the public deficit in the U.S. The short-term impact extends further: The desired outcome is growth across the board, in America, Europe and elsewhere.

Because of the impression that they have made an empirical compromise — “the American way” was previously a common description — savage budget cuts, immediate and non-discriminatory, will come into effect this Friday, March 1 across the entire U.S.

These cuts affect essential areas of the public sector: defense, airports, borders, schools, hospitals, national parks, etc. The federal budget will be cut by $85 billion between now and the end of September and $109 billion annually until 2021. Hundreds of thousands of civil servants, particularly at the Pentagon, will find themselves on holiday without pay.

Why? Incapable of agreeing on a strategy to challenge the public deficit, the elected tied their hands in August 2011. They voted in a law — the famous “fiscal cliff” — that becomes applicable as of today. Its contents are brutal and absurd — a batch of arbitrary cuts, which were included to force consensus between the members of the House rather than to accomplish something in reality.

They will not be tolerated. A reactionary text is already in the works. Both sides had their time to play their little game of politicking. The Democratic president, Barack Obama, never imagined that the Republicans, militant combatants for the interests of national security, would accept such drastic cuts to the defense budget. The Republicans thought that Mr. Obama, good Democrat that he is, would never resign himself to such brutal cuts to health, education and agricultural subsidies. Ah, dismal partisan calculations.

It is worth emphasizing that Republicans carry a much larger portion of responsibility for the obstacles. Calling for a long-term strategy to reduce the public deficit — which would entail over 5 percent of the gross domestic product — Mr. Obama has proposed a composite remedy: a reduction in the state’s expenditures as well as additional fiscal pressure on America’s richest citizens.

Through ideological blindness and Ayatollah-like dogmatism, the Republicans, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, refuse to budge on any tax hikes.

The International Monetary Fund and the European Union have expressed their worry. These budget cuts could handicap the U.S.’ comeback and worsen the European economic depression.

There is still time for the two major U.S. political parties to reach a consensus. The reputation of their country depends on it.