A New Day in America

Baseball, it's America's Pastime.  It is somewhat ironic that we are in the middle of the baseball playoffs and I cannot think of a better metaphor for what is happening in Washington D.C.

Baseball is a game of honor.  If you wanted, while at bat you could get hit by the ball and are sent to first base.  It's automatic.  If you wanted to do this all day long, I don't see why you could not just continue to have your players get hit by the pitcher's ball and eventually your team will score a run and then many runs.  Theoretically, you would never need to give the other team a chance to play offense because your team is continuously being hit by balls and rounding the bases.

Of course this ridiculous scenario would never play out.  Why?  Is it against the rules?  No.  It would not happen because in baseball there is a degree of decorum.  Most baseball players go to great lengths to avoid being beaned by the ball.  Continuously being given a pass to first base is just something that is not done.  More to the point, they feel that they could get a better opportunity for their team to hit the ball.  The outcome most of the time is that you are sent back to the bench to try again.

Politics has always been about compromise, true compromise.  Is this latest crisis unique in American politics?  The answer is both yes and no.  We have had other shows of power on both the left and the right.  We have come up against budget and debit ceiling limits in the past.  So on that account this latest crisis is not in itself unique. 

What is different about this debacle is that for the first time it was initiated to repeal settled law and to completely halt the workings of government if one side does not get its way.  The Affordable Care Act or "Obama Care" is what has started this whole circus.  A very few in Congress decided to take a stand against the President's signature legislation and has refused to budge on opening the government or lift the debit ceiling until something is done about settled law!  To make things even more preposterous, the law itself was being implemented within days of the threats.  What they have done is to refuse to take their best shot up at bat.  They think being hit by the ball is a better outcome because playing the game as intended would assure failure because they have an inferior team.

Republican House Leadership and their follow representatives on what was considered to be the "moderate right" are petrified about meeting with opposition from their own party in their own districts next year if they were to vote on what has been considered normal course for the past generation.  So what we are talking about is that because they are unable to swing the bat, they would rather be hit by the ball and get a pass.

Decorum or doing the right thing is definitely not part of today's American right.  We are 24 hours away from a government default and House Republicans are threatening to pass their own bill (which may not pass at all) and then leave.  In other words they are going to great lengths to being beaned by the ball.  What would be the outcome?  No one really can answer that question, today.  Two days from now we will begin to experience the answer, first hand.

But unlike baseball, this is not a game.  We are already seeing some of the effects of the Republican shutdown of the government by refusing to fund it.  National parks are closed losing millions of tourist dollars for the communities in which they reside.  This country's largest exporter, Boeing is seeing newly finished aircraft ready for delivery sitting on the tarmac because final inspections cannot be completed certifying airworthiness to new customers.  Revenue that would be spread back to suppliers and the company's bottom line. 

Workers are being furloughed in less high profile but just as vital positions throughout the United States of America.  We Americans often have a way of not really caring about the opinions of others.  We also have short memories and care little for history.  But our neighbors far and near have a different prospective.  We are being watched closely by those who have made a financial bet on us.  What does all this do to our reputation around the globe?  There are a lot of unknowns here and on the world stage.  But already there are rumblings about America no longer being a reliable bet.  The next step and yet unforeseen consequence is that America is no longer a stable entity. 

This take no prisoners attitude by a small minority so that they get their way is not the way America was designed to be run.  Politics is compromise.  There is a degree of decorum and honor involved in running a country.  Sometimes you just have to accept your losses and live to fight another day.  If you don't think that has happened recently just ask the Democrats who, in the majority saw gun and immigration legislation go down to a minority.  Sometimes being a good loser for the greater good has its place and is what has made this country great.  The Republicans could learn a thing or two from America's pastime.