Blame Game

People seem to be wrapped up in this notion of who to blame for the impending goverment shutdown. But it's really very simple. There's lots of pieces, and I'll go over who is to blame for each one.

The Republicans, the Democrats, and the American people who kept voting them into office, are to blame for where this country is, as a whole. Forget the Fed and Greenspan and terrorists and the rest of it: we made this country what it is. We put ourselves in a place where our economy is in big trouble, our long-term obligations dwarf our ability to pay for them, our military is overstretched around the world, and we can't seem to get along with our neighbors without getting in fights, or, at least, staring matches.

Both parties -- mostly in Congress -- are to blame for not seeing and doing something to stop the collapse of the financial and housing markets. Democrats distorted the market by forcing it to give people money that shouldn't have gotten it, and Republicans some regulation that might have helped.

The Republicans are to blame for not balancing the budget in the 2000s when they had the chance.

The Democrats are to blame for rapidly increasing spending when they took over power in 2006 and 2008.

The Democrats are entirely to blame for the fact that there is currently no budget. They had complete authority and power to do it. Republicans were incapable of preventing it. The Democrats only didn't pass a budget because they didn't want to have that budget before the people in an election year because they knew it would be unpopular, so they shirked their responsibility.

Further, when they had a chance after elections, they didn't take it because they decided they wanted to try to force the Republicans to pass an unpopular budget, so they could do exactly what they are doing now: attacking the Republicans for terrible ideas that are going to kill women and seniors and children and poor people and students and unicorns.

The fiscally conservative Republicans are entirely to blame for the fact that we might have a government shutdown. These Republicans could compromise the reasons why the American people elected them and give us the same old nonsense that got us into this mess in the first place.

These fiscally conservative Republicans are entirely to blame for refusing to let this country go down the economic toilet by conducting business as usual.

Make no mistake: the Democrats wanted this to happen. The possibility of this impending shutdown is the reason why they didn't pass a budget in November or December. They wanted to come out swinging in this Congress, so they could try to nip this "Tea Party conservatism" sweeping DC in the bud. They've been planning it for months, and now they'll get to say, "see? this is what happens when you elect these extremists!"

But the Republicans could have rolled over and avoided this confrontation. Just because someone asks for it doesn't mean you have to give it to them; the Republicans made the choice to get here and risk a shutdown. And I thank them for it, because the problems associated with a shutdown pales in comparison to what will happen to our government in just a few years if we don't change course right now. There's no time left.