What If The Compromise Fails?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

What if the compromise fails and the market sells off, Main Street becomes spooked, and unemployment rises to 10%, 12%, 15%?

I know Sarah Palin's name is thrown around here too often as the boogeyman of your childhood who will come into your bedroom if you don't go to sleep but she could easily become president in such an environment; anybody with a pulse and a R after their name could.

I know there is a "worse the better" and "maximize the contradictions" school of thought among some on the left but that got us Nixon, Bush* and Reagan.

In a perfect world tax cuts for the non-rich, unemployment insurance for those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and other benefits wouldn't be held hostage in exchange for tax cuts for the richest two percent. But in a perfect world the Republicans wouldn't have just won sixty two House seats, six Senate seats, nine governors seats, and a bunch of state legislatures.

Burning the village to save it doesn't make sense; especially when you live in the village and have no place to go.

The Republicans can not be shamed. Public opinion doesn't move them. As Josef Stalin once famously said "How many divisions does the Pope have? "

[whyverne]

1. Do we have a name yet for the Democratic tea party?

You know the "no compromise" and "throw them all out" crowd.

[elizm]

2. Seems the name is 'progressives'.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. I Don't Want To Get In A Pissing Match Witn Others On The Left

But just game this out...

The compromise fails. The market will definitely sell off because of the uncertainty. There will be chaos as millions of Americans lose their unemployment benefits. Everybody's taxes go up. Already historically high rates of unemployment start rising again. The Republicans come back next year with the same bill except goodies like unemployment insurance extensions and payroll tax cuts are missing . It passes. Either we are stuck with a crappy bill or Obama vetoes it. The Repugs don't care either way. It's a win-win situation for them. They get their issue or tax cuts for their rich cronies. All the while the economy is worsening and Obama is getting the blame.

This is chess. When you make a move you need to anticipate your opponent's move.

I wish everybody here would just game this out.

[jefferson_dem]

4. Shouldn't "progressives" actually support "progress"?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. They Want To Maximize The Contradictions

I remember reading about how Michael Harrington begged those on the left to mobilize in favor of Humphrey against Nixon in 68. They sat on their hands in the belief that if Nixon won things would get so bad the masses in their despair would turn to them. How did that work out.

I actually saw Lenin's famous "to make an omelet you have to break some eggs" quote here yesterday as if fellow Americans are "eggs" and that the masses in their despair would ever turn to some of us...

It's nihlism...

[whyverne]

6. I still feel bad about Humphrey, but what did I know.

I was young. "Dump the Hump" was unconscionable. It's been said before, the trouble with a two party system is that both parties tend toward radicalism.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. I Wanted Bobby But I Was Ten

The sad thing is 68 set up 72 and Nixon's Southern Strategy.

[whyverne]

8. I don't know where everyone else was during the last

presidential campaign, but I saw the most unpopular president in history announce that we were going to bail out the rich and neither presidential contestant came out against it. That told me something.

The Democrats spent more in 2008 and won. The Republicans, thanks partly to the Supremes, spent more in 2010 and won. Pissing off the rich isn't a winning strategy, it's a feel good.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. The Democrats Won In 08 Because The Economy Sucked And The Republicans Were In Power

The Republicans won in 010 because the economy sucked and the Democrats were in power.

What do you think will happen in 2012 if the economy still sucks?

[harun]

10. There are many other options.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Please Share Them With Me

Please disabuse me of the notion that the only thing the Republicans want more than a tax cut for their rich cronies is to totally wreck this economy, mess it up worse than it already is if that is even imaginable, and blame it on Obama.