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(More "Gasps" at the Times News Online:
http://www.tnonline.com/news/columns/thegenerationgasp )
October 5, 2013
http://www.tnonline.com/news/columns/thegenerationgasp )
October 5, 2013
Politics: German and American
Style… the Same Style?
By Claire and Jim Castagnera
JIM:
As I write this
column, a likely government shutdown is a mere five hours away (i.e., 7:00 PM
on Monday, September 30th).
To paraphrase President Barack Obama, a small faction of one party in
one house of one branch of the federal government is trying to close down the
whole government in order to re-run the election they lost last year.
Meanwhile, across
the pond, Germany has recently run a general election in which, as in the U.S.,
conservatives took a beating. The
centrist party, lacking a majority, must now turn to the left to form a
coalition government. My son,
Claire’s brother, Marc is a stock trader living in Hamburg. I asked him for his take on the current
German political situation. Here’s
what he had to offer:
“It was a very interesting election. The CDU [Christian
Democratic Union, probably the German party most comparable to the Republican
party] governed the last term together with the FDP [very much on the right end
of the political scale]. In Germany, a party needs at least 5% of votes
to actually make it into the parliament, and the FDP failed to meet that quota
for the first time ever - the party is actually the party that has governed the
most number of years compared to all other parties, even if always as the
smaller governing partner [they have in the past always achieved a result of
5-14% of the votes]. So this is quite historic in itself. It also
means… that the CDU will now need to work either with the SPD [Social Party of
Germany, most comparable to the Democratic party] or the Green Party to have a
majority….
“Most likely, the CDU will end up governing with the SPD [try
imagining the Republicans and the Democrats actually working together], which
already took place two terms ago, from 2005-2009. This is always referred
to as the ‘great’ or ‘big’ coalition, since it encompasses a very vast majority
[in this case, almost 70%]. But as you can guess, it tends to turn into
somewhat of a political standstill without much being accomplished in any
direction. But it is still very open, since neither party is too keen on
a repeat of their last experience together [especially the SPD, which came out
more or less the loser of the political tug of war back then], and there seem
to be at least a few ideological points where a compromise will be very
difficult [such as raising taxes or not].”
Sounds a bit like Washington, doesn’t it? I did try imagining the Republicans and
Democrats working together, but my usually fertile imagination failed me.
One of the issues the two parties ought to be working on together
is immigration reform. I am
reminded by Marc’s missive that, over in Hamburg, he is the immigrant. On that point he made this observation:
“As a resident of Germany who may not vote, I
try to sit back and watch as my fate is somewhat unrolled for me. But all in
all, I prefer voting in the US. I, like many others here, would not know
which party to vote for – since each party has stances on multiple topics that
I can't agree with, I would be forced to choose the lesser evil. It is in
some cases the same in the US, but with the two-party system I find it more
clear-cut. It has of course its disadvantages as well, though.”
Yes, indeed, Marc; I assume the Tea Party took
its name from the Boston caper that helped move America to Revolution more than
200 years ago. However, I
personally associate the name with the Mad Hatter.
CLAIRE:
“I'm all for ‘a pox on both their houses’ – when
appropriate. But this is not a game of chicken. This is when someone is driving
to work, and there is a car coming directly at them in their lane. That is not
a game of chicken, that is a [jerk] causing a head-on collision.”
That’s
what Jon Stewart had to say in regard to the role of Republicans in the current
government shutdown. He’s absolutely right.
In
case you aren’t up to speed, let me help: Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz
vowed to halt funding of the Affordable Care Act, or shut the government down
while trying. There might be a few other reasons floating around, but folks,
that’s the long and short of it, and it’s truly as absurd and childish as it
sounds.
Let
me further catch you up: the Affordable Health Care Act is a law. That means it was voted on, passed, and put
into action. In fact, millions of people are currently on their computers,
signing up for health care right now. It’s done. That’s the funny thing about
laws – once one is passed, you can’t make it disappear by pitching a hissy fit.
If that worked, the Republicans would have already won last year when they
claimed that the Affordable Care Act was “unconstitutional.” But the Supreme
Court found otherwise, and the law was rightfully passed. Yet Republicans like
Cruz continue to regurgitate the same nonsensical argument.
Ted Cruz thinks that by throwing a tantrum and
asking for a redo, he can change the way our government works. In the meantime,
hundreds of thousands of government workers are furloughed without pay, and
millions more are being asked to work for free. Federally funded tourist
attractions are closed, adversely affecting the economy, and federally funded
programs such as nutrition and senior care programs are grinding to halt,
affecting the poor and the elderly. On the other hand, Ted Cruz and his cronies
will continue to receive their salaries while everyone else suffers.
If it’s possible for things to be even worse,
we’re poised to hit – and possibly breach – the debt ceiling in a matter of
weeks. We have much, much bigger problems on our hands, but we can’t focus on
those because of an insane, vocal minority.
What is the point
of all this? Even most Republicans seem to realize they no longer have a leg to
stand on, and they are coming out in droves against their own colleagues to
condemn Cruz’s strategy. But that won’t stop millions of regular American
citizens from bearing the brunt the fallout. Furthermore, polls show that the
majority of Americans would rather go ahead with rolling out the Affordable
Care Act as planned than become embroiled in a government shutdown. My only
hope is that voters remember this when the next election rolls around.
For now, I only
wish that Ted Cruz would read what I have to say: the Affordable Care Act is
happening, whether you like it or not. It’s been happening. Now build a bridge and get over it.
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