Shutdowns and default, the path that the GOP wants to shove us down.

Beware of snakes...and elephants.

There are some dangerous places to tread. They offer risk to the individual that enters. Or, it has repercussions for everyone else that can be hard to estimate.

Government shutdowns are these, to an extent. But debt default are in a whole other league of intractable paths. And people don't seek that path, if they are responsible, or sensible.

Yet, in the United States we've seen ourselves facing this path twice now, in less than 5 years. Not as an act of the will of the government. Not by the will of the people. But as the machinations and plotting of a small minority in this country. And Ted Cruz has eagerly taken on the role of the drum major for this lot. He led the spectacle in the Senate and has repeatedly encouraged and met with Republicans in the House, urging no deals. On down the path! On to the brink!

But Cruz isn't alone, Conservatives have eagerly rallied to shutdown government, they've declared it no big deal, and a debt default? Pfft! And then when the government shutdowns? They then turn and cry out, "Why has this happen?" It's so disingenuous.

And he's not the only powerful voice. Paul Ryan has jumped into this. The last Vice Presidential candidate is hip deep in this (AND do I even have to bring up what their last VP candidate has been doing the last week?) This Is The Party.

Not to worry, the party is working. Various Republicans have a plan. Impeach the president. Glad they're helping. The idea is that if they won't let government pay it's debts, the president has failed to pay the nations debts. and that means he has grievously failed. Now that may not make ANY sense to you, but if you don't think about it...It's still stupid.

But this is what we are getting from the GOP now. You have some, slowly, trying to talk sense (as the minutes to default evaporate away), but for far too many, madness reigns (or, for many, they stay silent for hear of the nutters). And through the nutters, we're being kept from financial safety, and access to basic government services. They battle on, fighting, with the solvency of the nation in the balance, for:

• Delaying Obamacare roll out.
• Making Capitol Hill workers health insurance more expensive.
• On the question of medical equipment taxation.
• NOW, cutting medicaid!
• Denying women access to preventative health.

We've gotten to the point that even Representative Peter King, of New York, is freaking out and angry at his party. That is quite a move, but he's been left sputtering to understand how they've gone so far, risking so much. Joe Scarborough is in such pain about why his party is acting in such a dysfunctional manner.

But you know why this happened? Conservative politics. This is all about the ideas conservatives have been espousing for decades now. Remember when Reagan was mocking the usefulness of the federal government, to win votes? Remember when you wanted more and more power ceded from the federal government to states and businesses? This is the reality of that rhetoric.

The Heritage Foundation has been helping lead and formulate these plans. Over at the Heritage Action group, they are bragging about how all of this still means they can kill Obamacare (and anyone or thing that gets in the way of Conservatives). They are at war with the US government. And the House Republicans, and Ted Cruz, are their allies. From Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity, the conservative media voices have been championing the shutdown of the government. They have goaded Republicans on.

This has been the agenda of Conservatism since President Obama won the presidency. So many candidates and representatives, dreamed of shutdowns. And they were open about this! They wanted this battleground. This is their endgame. It's not happenstance or mistake. It's an agenda

And John Boehner has been key to this agenda. The Senate Republicans have given up the ghost on these matters for now, beyond Ted Cruz and his tailcoat riders. But in the House, Boehner has tens of members who yell, and he flinches. It has been in his power since before the shutdown to end this. But he won't. He even had a plan earlier this week to move things, but he dumped it when everyone wasn't happy. (Worse he allowed the rules of the House to be changed so only he and Cantor bring in a solution.) It's such as sign of weakness, I'm shocked that the carrion eaters aren't sitting in the doors of the House licking their lips. He's not a leader. He's a puppet. While his suffering isn't going to end, he can end it for the country.


But, even then, what happens next? When the next discussion of debt or budget comes, will they try and threaten shutdown and default? YES!!! And that is the problem. This is now how Republicans govern now.

We have to put an end to it. I don't know how we do that short of voting Republicans out of power. And keeping them out where they aren't in control. And that's at the federal, state, and local levels.

In various places in the country they are feeling the impact of the Republicans efforts. In Houston, the Houston Chronicle has recalled it's endorsement of Ted Cruz. Wall Street has had it's fill of this instability being forced on their markets.

Closed for business, like much of
government.

I refrained from some of the picture of strewn carnage.

And in places like South Dakota, people are being buffeted hard by the reality of the federal government not being there to help (Take that Ronald Reagan!). Last week the west of the state was hit hard, very hard, by a nasty blizzard. It knocked out power. It trapped people. It shutdown business. And in the wake, they found the 10's of thousands of dead cattle littered across the region, in fields, in ditches, on the highways. And by the next weekend, a torrent of rain and flooding. People were hurt, financially. It is bad. And all the federal support they usually can turn to is gone. Shuttered. All for the sake of GOP gamesmanship.

The question is, what lessons will voters learn. Is all of Houston sick of Cruz? Do businesses realize how dangerous a bet the GOP is now (Is anything this last few weeks Pro-Business?)? And Red States? Is this what you wanted? Are you happy with what Republican and Tea Party agenda has given? What do you think of no dissent being allowed?

This is the face of the GOP now. It isn't moving towards any form of sanity. It's shambling into the darkness to the Right. And it's shunning reality and genuine governance. They are harmful.

So, do you have any polls open today where you are? Or soon? Would be good for you to know.

The fate of the country is in the balance.