Austerity Chicken

by , posted on Sunday, March 3rd, 2013 at 6:23 pm

In the maneuvering to affix blame for the mess that is sequestration, the Republicans in Congress would have us believe this was all the President’s idea to begin with,

while the Obama Administration would have us believe that it was a deal that was never supposed to take effect. Not really. And yet, both sides voted for it. Both sides agreed to play this dangerous game.

And that’s the problem. The debate has never been a question of whether or not we should even be pursuing a politics of austerity in the first place, it has merely been a question of the precise balance of pain that was to be exacted upon those less fortunate than those who will determine our fate.

It is a game of chicken that is being played, like that scene in Rebel Without a Cause. Both the Republicans and the Obama Administration are driving their hot rods recklessly towards a cliff, pedal to the metal, with the mainstream media cheering them on. It’s not clear which one will hit the brakes first. It’s not even clear that either one of them has any desire to stop at all before something tragic happens. All they seem to care about is who will jump first.

But one other thing seems clear. As long as the only option on the table remains austerity, both cars are going over the cliff. The drivers in this foolish and reckless game, the Republicans and the Obama Administration both, will almost certainly jump out of the car they’re driving before it takes them over the edge, but as long as the main thing they care about is proving who is the bigger chicken, the cars, both of them, are going over the cliff.

And we are those cars.

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