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According to the polls a majority of self-identified Republicans want their party to stick to their principles even if it shuts the government down. Meanwhile, the majority of self-identified Democrats want their party to compromise with the Republicans. Finally, self-identified independents want both sides to compromise.
So, if we're strictly looking at the polls I can understand why the Democratic leadership is moving to compromise with Republican's. It appears to be what the party and independents want... my problem - and here is where I'm confused - you can't compromise with people who don't want to compromise. It's like a twisted game of chicken, only your opponent fully intends to commit suicide - you can't 'win' by playing their game unless you commit suicide along with them.
In effect, by negotiating the Democratic Party has enabled the Republican's to carry on a farce. They're able to sit there and PRETEND as if they're negotiating with the Democrats, when in reality they're hoping - no they're praying - for a shutdown. When you have people who literally hate the government (unless it's prying into your private life), then shutting the government down is a win for them. They have absolutely no incentive to even meet Democrats 1/5th of the way - forget about meeting in the middle.
Despite the popular wisdom saying that the Republican's will be blamed for the shutdown, I'm going to strongly disagree with that. I believe the Democrats, and in particular Obama, are going to be blamed for the shutdown because they wouldn't "compromise" (despite the fact the goal post continues to move). I believe that even the "smart" Republican's would view a shutdown as a good thing from a cynical political prospective - especially if it endangers the tepid economic recovery. If we experience a double dip as a result of the shutdown, then more people will lose jobs... who will be blamed for that? Obama and the Democrats. By November 2012 most American's (who have attention spans shorter than goldfish) will have forgotten all about this nonsense, and will only know one thing: Things haven't gotten better, and they're getting worse... and they're going to blame those in power - the President.
As a result of this in my mind negotiating with the Republicans is a mistake because it provides them with political cover. I'm not saying the debt and deficit isn't a problem. It is a major problem. There isn't a serious person that I know who doesn't think that in the long term that it's a major issue that has to be tackled. I just fundamentally disagree with the Republican approach, and believe the Democrats should STOP negotiating and put forward their OWN ideas on how to do it. Then stand firm by calling out the Republicans for not supporting it. They should be the ones on the offense; not the ones playing defense. They should be forcing Republicans to come to them and negotiate on THEIR terms rather than the other way around.
So... can someone explain to me why I'm wrong? Am I simply missing something glaringly obvious, or are Democrats just this stupid?
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