I was hoping not to write about the Government Shutdown and the looming debt ceiling. But with us entering the second week of this madness it is becoming hard to ignore and my European friends are beginning to send concerned or enraged emails. So here are my current views.
1. I may be in the minority here but I believe the financial markets would not completely seize up on a technical default by the government. It wouldn’t be pretty but I think enough folks understand the difference between the government not being able to pay versus being deadlocked on paying. So: let’s not panic.
2. At this point it seems pretty clear that this is a case of a small minority blocking a clear majority. Only one third of Americans support defunding or delaying the Affordable Care Act. Even the Republican leadership seems apparently concerned at this point that they don’t have the votes to block so Speaker Boehner is now the one not letting a vote actually proceed. Given what I said in #1 above I am supportive of the majority standing firm here.
3. We absolutely must figure out a way to fix the underlying problems that have hollowed out our democracy and brought us into the realm of the banana republic. There are two key points here:
(a) Getting money out of politics. Now would be a great time to support one of my favorite efforts here, Represent.us which promotes the Anti-corruption Act. If you need any more evidence, read this New York Times report on the Koch brothers financial support for the attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act.
(b) We need to do away with the gerrymandered districts and go back to ones that make geographic sense. As long as seats are deemed safe all the voting action goes into the primaries
Both of these should be of interest to anyone who believes in democracy independently of their political believes. I would love to see a much more widespread engagement of the Internet generation around both of these crucial issues. Now would seem to be as good a time as any for companies such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to donate massive free advertising towards restoring democracy.
