Mission Accomplished | E.J.Dionne // Commonweal Magazine

Let's be clear: the wrecking ball is directed at a policy and a President committed to expanding health care coverage.  The deep south, rural mid-west and Tea party governed states (even Maine) all object to expansion of Medicaid and health insurance subsidies that are the heart of Obamacare.  They hate spending money - especially on "them".  It is not a problem with "Congress".  It is today's GOP, so unlike the Republican party of old. - gwc 
Mission Accomplished | Commonweal Magazine:
by E.J. Dionne

  The issue here is not that Congress failed to reach a “compromise.” The Democrats already have compromised, lopping about $70 billion off their budget proposal, to the dismay of many liberals. That was meaningless to a tea party crowd that seems to care not a whit about the deficit, despite its fulsome talk. It will be satisfied only if Congress denies health care coverage to about 25 million Americans, which is what “repealing Obamacare” really means.It needs to be said over and over as long as this stupid and artificial crisis brewed by the tea party continues: Financing the government in a normal way and avoiding a shutdown should not be seen as a “concession.” Making sure the government pays its debt is not a “concession.” It’s what we expect from a well-functioning constitutional system. It’s what we expect from decent stewards of our great experiment. The extremists who have taken over the House do not believe in a normal, constitutional system. They believe only in power.There’s a profound irony here, since no one talks more about the Constitution than the tea party. Before the Civil War, John C. Calhoun and a variety of nullifiers and future secessionists spoke incessantly about the Constitution, too. We know where that led.

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