Call the waaambulance! GOP stamps feet, holds breath, shuts USA down

What happens when a tiny minority of sore losers—big losers at that—refuses to accept overwhelming defeat, script a new game plan and come back prepared for the next contest?

America is finding out, and it ain’t pretty.

Suppose, following its defeat in World War II, Japan had said, “Okay, so we lost. Now let’s negotiate. You’ll give us back the Philippines, right? Maybe China, too?” What if the Confederates had said, “We all surrender! Now let’s parlay. Y’all were just joshin’ about the slaves, right? They’ll stay on our plantations, of course.” Or the British said, “Jolly good shellacking you gave us. Now, which colonies do we continue to rule? Independence, indeed. Bloody foolish idea, eh what?”

Apparently the GOP (Grand Obstruction Party) didn’t get the memo: the war is over. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is the law of the land. And Americans don’t want to hear the Tea Party-led Republicans whine about cutting hard-earned and desperately needed programs like Social Security and Medicare. That battle’s over, too.

Most of us can remember a time when politicians actually relished the job of governing the country. The majority party tried its best to craft legislation that they felt would benefit Americans (and, of course, keep their party in the majority). The minority party would come up with alternative proposals and pitch them to the people. Debates would be held. Issues would be discussed. Congress would (this may sound shocking) bring bills up for votes and (gasp!) really vote on them! Then the electorate would decide who stayed in power and who went bye-bye.

Now? America suffers at the hands of a radical but well-funded (thank you, Koch brothers!) small band of ideological hypocrites (tea, anyone?) who don’t want to be held accountable for anything. Gun violence? Jobs? Education? The GOP won’t even bring those issues to a vote in the House. They’d rather just shut everything down and spend their time grandstanding on TV. Nope, governing’s just not a priority for them.

Odd, isn’t it? The party that’s always shouting the praises of unfettered competition magically morphs into a slobbering, whimpering pile of goo whenever they lose that competition. God forbid they should waste time trying to come up with solutions.

To paraphrase the oft-quoted Willie Nelson song, “Turn out the lights, the Tea Party’s over.”

Originally published at examiner.com