Yes. This pretty well encapsulates the transformation of partisan politics since the 2000 elections. But the dems are enabling this behavior through refusal to reform the filibuster and Obama’s bend over backwards negotiating style.

Um, Jon, I disagree with your claim that,

“The Republican Party believes that government is incapable of doing a job well, and are therefore against expanding the government.”

This is a false meme spread by the Republicans themselves. It cannot be doubted, it is indeed a fact that the previous republican administration, along with the republican controlled congress, expanded government by over 40 percent.

We should not be perpetuating this meme. We should, however, be calling them liars everytime they claim to be for smaller government, because, they are in fact, big fat liars. Please refrain from reinforcing the teabaggery delusion of small government republicans who want to listen to every call, open every letter and hold title to every uterus in America.

This is the distilled essence of Reagan’s Government is the Problem maxim. The US has created a political party that has a vested interest in governing poorly, or not at all. And remember-moderation equals insincerity, so the interest is not only in subverting the system, but in subverting it as quickly as possible and as thoroughly as possible. These are not conservatives, by any definition. They are anti-democratic radicals, though I’m not sure its fair to call them anarchists, either.

??? This was what they intended to do from the start. Conservatives have been doing this since reconstruction. Santa Clara v. Union Pacific (from a clerk’s notes). Taft-Hartley. FDIC. FSLIC. Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. FEMA. The EPA, OSHA, USDA, FDA, SEC, FCC, Worker’s Compensation-their dedicated mission has been to corrupt, pervert and eviscerate these rulings, laws and agencies, not just to profiteer, but to then point to these “examples” and show how government doesn’t work. Their whole modus operandi is to sabotage and then decry the malfunction. When Reagan, running as a Governor for another government office, said government was the problem, I knew his government would be the problem. And the post above is correct: they’re not interested in smaller government, but large government that elevates and protects a smaller group of people-the oligarchs. To vote for them or to compromise with them or to even entertain that these people are loyal citizens is to willingly participate in the destruction of our government, our society, and our country.

“Bug Government doesn’t work,” except for Defense, Homeland Security, Women’s Rights, War on Drugs, and all authoritarian programs.

And my district’s earmarks.

their dedicated mission has been to corrupt, pervert and eviscerate these rulings, laws and agencies, not just to profiteer, but to then point to these “examples” and show how government doesn’t work.

Yes. This is the mechanism.

Obama is going to lift regulations that frustrate the business. we can eat cake.

Any chance they’ll point to the stock market and the bloated balance sheets of multinationals as examples of how government does work, at least for those who pay them?

Jon, you wrote:

The Republican Party believes that government is incapable of doing a job well, and are therefore against expanding the government. They are committed to “proving” their belief that the government can’t do a good job no matter the cost, even if it means actively working to break it. By actively making government unworkable they demonstrate government can’t work.

Perhaps, rather, these politicians are rich, corrupt business people paid off to obstruct the proper working of our government so that they and a handful of other rich individuals sitting on each others’ transnational corporate boards can run roughshod over the rest of the people to maximize their profits? As nicely pointed out by masaccio (the bold is my emphasis):

You pay your taxes. The rich have a phalanx of bright young associates at law firms and CPA firms picking away at specific words and punctuation in the tax code for ways to game the system, and losing their souls in the process.

The politics of building bad government to destroy the notion of governance in general is stirringly detailed in Thomas Frank’s book The Wrecking Crew. A must-read in my opinion.

The problem of our times however, is that the neocons and neolibs are united in reducing the role of government, most often for the private sector’s benefit. They are united in devastating the commons.

Obama’s scheme to privatize our public school system is perhaps the most dreadful and important example of this kind of destructive bi-partisanship. Once our public education system is gone, I wonder what will remain of our civil society? Isn’t public education the foundation?

When one gets to the middle of what Ronald Reagan’s Reaganism is we come to these truths–

>> Government is the problem

>> Government cannot solve problems if it means taxing the wealthy to favor the poor

>> Ineffective government when it suits the Reaganists agenda is what the Reaganists desire except when it interferes with their boundless desires for American militarism,corporatist centered socialism or willingness to use the force of government to suppress Americans on matters they want to impose their views,curbs and rules on.

>> Reaganites betray themselves and Reaganism itself by seeking political office(s) in American government while at same time maintaining American government is not able to be effective,takes too much money from wealthy Americans and has no capability to modify social/educational/economic features of American society or economy. This is the Big Lie they are so fond of repeating over and over.

>> Reaganism and it’s followers should preclude these Reaganites from wanting to be in government being the creed they profess is government is the problem.

>> So why do the Reaganites want to be in government since it is so bad?

>> Hopefully this closet Reaganite Barack Obama we now have presiding in the WH will go down in steep defeat in 2012. To hell with the Obama-bots and Serial Obama Apologists as well.

Yes, and when government fails by these actions, more and more, people angrily believe it cannot work. (This is self-fulfilling, filed under the genral heading: ‘Starving the Beast.’)

President Obama is preparing to announce large spending cuts, which plays into this. His convenient pivoting to the political Right–in the name of ‘bipartisanship’–makes you suspect his real intentions and the results he really wants.

It makes you wonder: Could Barack Obama have been a plant from Karl Rove all along?

In the days of the old Soviet Union they were called “wreckers”. The only difference is that the Soviets largely invented “wreckers” as an excuse for both not achieving their five year plan goals and for shuffling off tens of thousands of innocent people to Gulag. Here the “wreckers” really ARE sabotaging effective rule by the government, AND they comprise the minority party. And the majority party has WILLINGLY adopted rules in the Senate that empower them to do exactly what they want to. This is the equivalent of the democrats giving a four-year-old child a hammer in the middle of Macy’s Fine China department and then denying they had the power to prevent what happens next. Based on the proviso that easily foreseen consequences are not unintended, I call bullshit. The current crisis in government, along with the Republican gains in the House and the Senate were intentional. Destruction of our ability to function as a Nation, wrought as policy by Harry Ried and Senate democrats.
The democrats are traitors to their base and anyone who willingly falls for their lies and votes for a democrat again is a fool.

Teddy Partridge is upstairs!
Sunday Late Night: Creation Museum Bars Same-Sex Couple

Quoth: “The conservative philosophy about the role of government has transitioned into an active effort to realize a self-fulfilling anti-government prophesy.”

This is the wrong way to look at it. There have always been two elements to the ‘conservative’ movement: The first is the small business owner, or middle-class person who thinks that they shouldn’t have to pay as much in taxes. This is the origin of the ‘get government off our backs’ populist movement, and though they may just be selfish, they do have a point sometimes. The other is the fat-cat elite who is very happy to hear this cheering from the lower classes about reduced regulation and lower taxes. If the elite can convince the populist that lowering taxes and regulation on multinational corporations is exactly the same as lowering taxes and regulation on mom-and-pop’s-corner-malt-shop, then the elite wins this game by playing to the populists.

We’re at a point, however, when the elites have won so completely that the whole economy is precariously balanced on the whims of a few commodities traders in New York, and the play money they’re using was borrowed from foreign countries.

I was going to mention The Wrecking Crew, but you beat me to it.

Yes. A must read.

The chapter on Saipan is illuminating. It says it all.

Yeah – in contrast with the Dems …

As much as I hate to be a dick about spelling, this one always bugs me. I believe the word you’re going for is “prophecy” and not “prophesy.”

Prophesy is a verb: “The Flying Spaghetti Monster would prophesy on the Hill of Meatballs,” with the last syllable sounding like sigh.

Prophecy is a noun, and the last syllable sounds like, see.

Thanks.

/dickishness

I looked over all the comments and I have the “Wrecking Crew” book and must reread it. The situation sounds hopeless. We all know about the lobbyists, the big banks, the large corporations controlling the decisions, the members of congress that are there for many & dubious reasons. Then we have a media that is not exactly a FREE PRESS. Throw in the terrorists & the national debt, the cities & states that are in deep financial straits,our pathetic infrastructure, the flood of jobs to India & China. What do we have left? We fought so hard for our independence & from nothing formed a government? Why do immigrants line up and wait to come here?(or cross the borders any way they can).

Could we be our own worst enemy? Those who hate the United States and the west can just sit back and watch us destroy ourselves. Are we this stupid? Can’t we grow up and stop acting like selfish children and start acting like adults?

We have the IT skills, the technology, the education, the resources and all that. What we NEED more of is: common sense, the guts to work for the welfare of ALL the people, and to be aware that we are Americans FIRST and members of a political party second. The “enemy” cannot be us. The “enemy” that attacked us on 9-11 is still alive and waiting. Where is the public WILL? Where are the true LEADERS? The leaders that care more about working for the people and the future of the country than about being reelected or pleasing big donors.

Americans can do a lot more too. Electing a representative to Congress and to the city, county and state governments doesn’t mean we can forget about these complicated issues and let George do it. We NEED to be interested in what is going on and voice our opinions,and really care enough to read about it & ask questions.

My family has been here for 261 years…..26 years before 1776. And I hate to give up now after only 235 since the American Revolution.

Feeling hopeless in Pennsylvania.

OOPS ! I am new at this and submitted the first comment and it did not show up so I wrote a shorter version and clicked submit. And both pop up. Then I tried to edit the second one to delete the repeats but the time to do this expired.
No wonder Washington, D C is in gridlock. The hot tea with scotch is delicious.

~~~ModNote:Welcome. Sorry, that was a glitch, and we shall take care of it. Thanks.~~~

I disagree that top Republicans believe government can never function effectively. They know it can – Social Security is a stellar example, as were the IRS and the DoJ’s anti-trust division in former days – and it scares the diapers off them.

Today’s top political and business leaders adhere to Jeffrey Skilling’s ethic-less standards of leadership. The idea that a democratic and open government might work well, let alone spectacularly in a few cases, for them is like staring into the abyss. It would ruin their aspirations to become or to remain MOTU. They can’t afford to let government run well or properly.

If they thought government were incapable of running well, they would ignore it and point to its incapacity (and excuse their own parts, as legislators, appropriators and overseers, in allowing that). They don’t. They jam sticks in government spokes, put sand in the gearworks, obstruct judicial and other appointments, withhold appropriations, ad nauseum. It is only certain parts of government, those that function for the public good, they want to obstruct. The disfunctional bits that operate in their exclusive interest are just fine; when they do, they are the first to withhold meaningful oversight of its actions.

It’s all just code similar to “free markets”. They and the elites have a great scam going pilfering the Treasury, and paying 4 dollars a day to workers in low wage countries. They don’t want anything changing that, while they’re getting a free ride on the backs of middle-class Americans.

“This is the distilled essence of Reagan’s Government is the Problem maxim. The US has created a political party that has a vested interest in governing poorly, or not at all.”

Governing poorly, yes. Governing not at all? NO. When the Republicans re-take power in 2012, just wait and see how quickly–and, unlike the so-called opposition party–effectively they seize the reins. Were none of you around in 2001?

“The government” is not just the many historical bureaucracies that have sprung up, it is a procedural means of getting things done, and cntemporary Republicans are very successful at using that means. The Republicans are not anti-government, they just govern differently than liberals think they should govern.

Today’s conservatives are much more serious about actively governing than the contemporary liberals who pay lip service to the historical bureaucratic institutions of government, mainly because they view it as their legacy and because it–ie., the New Deal and the activist Supreme Court of the Civil Rights era– makes some part of their base feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But this historical liberal *governance* does not currently exist. “Liberals” are NOT governing. The D-Party is getting by on giving speeches based in bygone liberal eras.

Leaving aside the financial crisis and depression and the massive government support required by the depression, support that even Bush started providing with a stimulus bill in summer of 2008 BEFORE the market even crashed and hundreds of people were laid off on a weekly basis, suppose NO bills were passed Jan 2009- Dec 2010. What difference would that have really made?

The Republicans have done a pretty good job at governing the way they want to these past 2 years, even while having to manage a grandstanding “opposition” party that refuses to admit its own evil and which compulsively seeks to transmogrify evil into good. That means of governing–giving nice speeches and pasing toothless, if not corporatist, bills in order to pull the wool over the eyes of a gullible public that is warm and fuzzy about an activist liberal government that no longer exists– is finally starting to wear thin with portions of the D-Party base.

Right now, the Republican *governing* aim is to get officially back in power in 2012, and they will use the government they’re allegedly opposed to and supposedly don’t control in order to do so. And when they do, they’re not going to sit on their hands because they’re opposed to the government, power, or authority. Because they’re not.

Rien, in French, means “nothing” which seems appropriate to that legislation.

Here we go. Matt Stoller has a pretty good description of conservative government in middle of this post on Egypt:

“The Egyptian Labor Uprising Against Rubinites”
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/matt-stoller-the-egyptian-labor-uprising-against-rubinites.html

In Dickensian Europe, this looked more like debtor’s prison. How many little quips have Repugnants made to this effect over the past two years?

The Teabagger rebellion–or at least some soon to be disappointed non-astroturfed portion of it– is anti-government. Today’s neoliberal mainstream, Republican and Democrat both, is all in favor of big government.

Big government progressives are still over the rainbow somewhere with FDR and the Warren Court. But they need to wake up.

Here’s some more big government conservatism. India this time:

“Democracy’s Failing Light” by Arundhati Roy.
http://www.literaturfestival.com/intern/reden/arundhati_roy_engl

preface: I am not a troll, I swear – this is something that just occurred to me while reading this piece, and so I’m going to throw it out there. I fully accept that I may reject my own argument after thinking on it for half an hour…

Everyone repeatedly says “People are not going to go out into the streets until things get a lot worse, they still have too much to lose” etc. etc. Think about our two political regimes. One of them is actively working flat-out to make things as bad as possible as soon as possible. The other is actively working to keep things just tolerable enough to postpone the inevitable uprising. Do either of them realize which part they’re playing here?

I have finally reached the point of no return.

I HATE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with a fury and a passion that makes me hope that the “reasonable” people of the world (whoever they may be) will come to our shores and deliver a “death blow” which will make this colony of idiotic assholes cower and cringe…that will deliver a blow so devastating that the USofA will never recover, and will become a “vassal state” wherein EVERY American (MOST PARTICULARLY THE VACUOUS RICH..most notably NOT to include those who really try to solve our national problems) are so disenfranchised, so deprived, so totally without hope, and so reduced to groveling for even the least form of nutrition, that before they die their horrible deaths, they cower and cringe….and WONDER….how they ever GOT IS SO WRONG!!!

Starting with the “great asshole” Ronald Reagan, this country has so departed from its DECENCY, its INTEGRITY, its HUMANITY….that I no longer have ANY respect for the self-important, self-aggrandizing, self-deprecating or “self-loathing” pieces of crap which constitute its population….or, more importantly, its POLITICAL “leadership” (now there’s an oxymoron if I ever saw one!)….and I nominate Barack Obama….for whom I voted twice in 2008 as its Chairman-In-Chief.

Oh, and just to put a final point on the discussion….I am certainly glad that I am 85…..not 25!!!(I am really looking forward to my residence in that “province” where Franklin Delano Roosevelt is STILL calling the shots….and where Eleanor is “keeping score”!