Kid Fight in Congress

Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell, “Bully Before”

How much attention have you been paying to the right wing’s threats (enabled by House Speaker John Beohener) to close down the government and refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless Obamacare is defunded? (Well, technically they are demanding that Obamacare be delayed, but their goal is to defund it.) Perhaps it sounds to you like a squabble out of Tom Sawyer, say the fight between Tom and the new boy in chapter 1.

I quote it at some length but with the intent of using it more for contrast than comparison purposes. You’ll understand what I mean in my follow-up commentary:

The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked his whistle. A stranger was before him — a boy a shade larger than himself. A newcomer of any age or either sex was an impressive curiosity in the poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg. This boy was well dressed, too—well dressed on a weekday. This was simply astounding. His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on—and it was only Friday. He even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom’s vitals. The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel, the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the other moved—but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time. Finally Tom said:

   “I can lick you!”

   “I’d like to see you try it.”

   “Well, I can do it.”

   “No you can’t, either.”

   “Yes I can.”

   “No you can’t.”

    “I can.”

   “You can’t.”

   “Can!”

   “Can’t!”

The conversation goes on in this vein for a long while. Then it reaches a point where lines in the sand are drawn:

 “You’re a coward and a pup. I’ll tell my big brother on you, and he can thrash you with his little finger, and I’ll make him do it, too.”

   “What do I care for your big brother? I’ve got a brother that’s bigger than he is — and what’s more, he can throw him over that fence, too.” (Both brothers were imaginary.)

   “That’s a lie.”

   “Your saying so don’t make it so.”

   Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:

   “I dare you to step over that, and I’ll lick you till you can’t stand up. Anybody that’ll take a dare will steal sheep.”

   The new boy stepped over promptly, and said:

   “Now you said you’d do it, now let’s see you do it.”

   “Don’t you crowd me now; you better look out.”

   “Well, you said you’d do it — why don’t you do it?”

   “By jingo! for two cents I will do it.”

   The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with derision. Tom struck them to the ground. In an instant both boys were rolling and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like cats; and for the space of a minute they tugged and tore at each other’s hair and clothes, punched and scratched each other’s nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory.

As I say, sometimes politics looks this way to the casual outsider. I suspect, in our case, both sides would identify with Tom Sawyer. Some rightwing members of the white middle class—let’s call them Rush Limbaugh enthusiasts–are resentful of the citified upstart who has come into the neighborhood and is walking around as though he owned the place. (A darker version of this resentment occurs in Huckleberry Finn where Huck’s pap rails against an “uppity” black man.) On the left, by contrast, resentment is directed at this member of the 1 percent—or if he’s not that rich, at least he’s wealthier than we are and needs to be brought down a peg.

Threats are hurled back and forth until there’s real money at stake. Here, however, is where we should hope that Congress should back away from the scene in the book. That’s because the money involved is a lot more than two coppers. It’s the world economy.

New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait, quoting New York Times economic policy analyst Anne Lowry, gives us the figures—first what the mere threat of not paying our debts cost America in 2011 and then what it would cost if we actually failed to raise the debt ceiling:

Of course, 2011 represents a break from the pattern [from previous debt ceiling negotiations]. That is the one time Congress actually used the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip. From the Republican point of view, it was a satisfying experience, resulting in a trillion and a half dollars’ worth of spending cuts. The threat of default cost the government almost $19 billion directly in the form of higher interest payments, and cost the economy far more by shaking confidence . . .

And that was without default. Annie Lowery reports that a debt-ceiling breach could have potentially massive effects on the world economy — hundreds of billions of dollars, and possibly worse.

Will our two boys back off before it’s too late? The literary parallels no longer work because, in Twain’s fight, the two boys meet on a fairly level playing field, with one being slightly bigger and the other being slightly more aggressive. Neither side has the potential to trigger an economic Armageddon if he doesn’t get his way.

In fact, tempting as it might be to view Democrats and Republicans as fighting kids, the fact of the matter is that they are supposed to be our adult leaders, responsible for the health and safety of the nation. If they don’t bring a grown-up perspective into their current standoff and find ways to step back from the edge, then we are in real trouble.

Right now, stepping back means doing what Congress has always done in the past, which is pass a continuing budget resolution and raise the debt ceiling. And if we’re calling on Congress to be adult, why not also ask them to find middle ground on the Dream Act, gun control legislation, and a budget cutting plan that does not involve random sequester cuts.

If the GOP wants to defund Obamacare, they can win elections and repeal it. What they are doing now is a childish game of chicken with adult consequences.

Added note: Steven Benen of maddowblog.com recently looked at what the House Republicans were demanding in exchange for not blowing up the world economy:

ransom plan

I find myself wondering whether House Republicans see themselves as Michael Corleone in Godfather II after a corrupt senator demands a large bribe for a gaming license:

Senator Pat Geary: I want your answer and the money by noon tomorrow. And one more thing. Don’t you contact me again, ever. From now on, you deal with Turnbull.

Michael Corleone: Senator? You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.

Do I need to remind anyone that we’re not in a movie?

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