Dr's In: Getting to "YES" in the shutdown

Most people agree the shutdown must end.  However, Democrats and Republicans are having a difficult time getting to “YES.”  Sadly, the recent proposal by House Republicans raises the debt through Thanksgiving but does not end the shutdown.  Obama has wisely drawn a line in the sand relating to Republican demands.  If he doesn't hold his ground he will be fighting the same battles again before December.

Hopefully, the shutdown will end through a “Clean Bill.”  This dangerous game of cat and mouse politics, wondering who will blink first has made the financial markets jittery, forced the furloughing of 800,000 government workers, add another 800,000 workers contracted by the government on road or similar projects, and dampened consumer spending due to fears of another recession.  The impact on the business community is daily coming to light and the picture is ugly.

Boeing just announced the possibility of large layoffs of workers involved in defense, space and security contracts. There aren't enough government inspectors to approve projects.  Many other industries face similar problems.  The total effect aggravates an already fragile economy.

No one escapes the downside of the shutdown.  Hopefully, more people will start to understand the importance of government services and the ripple effect when government can’t function smoothly.  Although rational people would like the current state of political gridlock to end, there are those who advocate the continuation of the shutdown simply because they are anti-government or anti-tax.  Many of these groups push to maintain the current gridlock. 

I have spoken to people that saw no value in government run utilities, public health, or regulatory programs of any nature.  A lot of these folks hold hold sway with the Republican Party who gave this fringe movement a platform.  Large moneyed American interests typically support Republicans and encouraged the radical extreme that now exists.  There are now indications by some highly influential conservative Republicans that things have gotten out of hand.

When threatened with a loss of financial support by influential backers, one ultra-conservative leader suggested that prior supporters can keep their money.  They were going ahead with their agenda focusing on US debt and demanding draconian cuts and de-funding ObamaCare.  That is still a critical issue within Republican Party factions.

What makes the current scenario so interesting is the radicalism was driven by “Big Money” and not a typical grass roots effort from have-nots.  If you study the French and Russian revolutions, it was a people’s revolution that overturned the French and Russian monarchies due to regal excesses and extreme poverty among the masses.  The efforts to undermine the Obama administration along with the Affordable Care Act were right wing efforts funded by wealthy conservatives. 

The House of Representatives remains in disorder unable to agree on how the shutdown should end. When a group or collection of groups support actions that derail our economy, impact international confidence in the nation, and destabilize a difficult recovery; one has to investigate the motives.  Such actions may border on treason and require accountability.  Democrats and Republicans need to get to “YES” immediately, if not sooner.