General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: OK, thanks to DUers I think I'm seeing a "Shock Doctrine" pattern here........ [View all]Benton D Struckcheon
(2,347 posts)1. The current CR if passed locks in the sequester levels. For six weeks only, but you just need to do a bit of erosion each time.
2. TPP? Who even heard of it, eh?
3. Boehner is trying to lever in something re "entitlements", i.e., chained CPI or something, to get him out of his dead end. We'll see.
1 and 2 are being worked on. 2 has to pass Congress though, so it will need to see the light of day at some point. As for 3, was just reading that Obama hasn't ruled out using the 14th, so you may not actually see anything like that happen.
What you're describing is what they want, but getting there is always the problem. Cruz's defund Obamacare thing may actually have inadvertently sidetracked them rather than helped them. To the extent it gets people riled up, it may raise awareness on the TPP and on the fact we're actually living under the sequester, which I don't think a lot of people realize.
There are some good things happening. Obamacare is here and working. Not perfect by a long stretch, but it's way better than what we had. That's progress. Even if the Republicans got to "defund" Obamacare tomorrow, most of its funding is actually protected (notice that it opened even though the gov't is allegedly shut down???) so even if they get everything they want, it won't matter much for the program.
Also, you're leaving out a huge part of all this: the Voting Rights decision and all the stuff happening at the state level to restrict voting. That's where the real battle is. The DC stuff will get worked out, but if the state level battles on voting rights are lost, nothing will matter and things will get much much worse than what we're seeing now.