Americans have many things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
Not among them is a Congress that works in any meaningful way. Or even a Congress that works, period.
The fact that literally no one was surprised by this week’s failure of a congressional supercommittee to outline $1.2 trillion in budget cuts shows just how far the once venerated institution has slipped into an abyss of dysfunction.
The real surprise here would have been for Republicans and Democrats to compromise on a plan to cut that amount over a 10-year period. With Europe’s economy now falling off a cliff, and America not too far behind, it would have been nice to have some sort of blueprint for the country.
But Americans have learned not to expect such things. We now only expect idiotic lines in the sand, finger pointing, and the rhetorical babble that passes these days for statesmanship.
The truth is, Congress is a sad, broken thing. The partisan squabbles of the 1990s – which I thought were ridiculous at the time – have escalated from conventional to nuclear warfare. Certainly, the fabricated debt crisis last summer – in which Tea Party Republicans seemingly threatened to torpedo the U.S. economy – seemed like a Dr. Strangelove plot twist.
In the 1990s, we could laugh at this stuff, at Newt Gingrich sermonizing to Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinski extravaganza that unfolded in the U.S. House. Hey, the economy was good. We all had cash in our pockets.
Today, for obvious reasons, it’s harder to laugh.
So everyone, please now wrap your arms around your terminal and let’s have a group cyber-hug.
And a nice cry.
