Our federal government may shut down at midnight Monday, or default on its debts 17 days later, because the GOP’s suicide caucus in the U.S. House — to which Montana’s blessing in the House, Rep. Steve Daines, belongs — seeks a gotterdammerung moment on health care.
This is not politics as usual, jaded commentaries from the usual mainstream media pundits notwithstanding. Along with last week’s despicable attack on food stamps, it’s part of a fanatical scheme to incinerate our social safety net in the belief that those suffering misfortune brought their woes upon themselves and should not be rewarded for their sloth and sin. As Sojourners President Jim Wallis, writing about SNAP (food stamps), put it last week:
You see, for many House conservatives this isn’t really about SNAP, but about their opposition to the idea that as a society we have the responsibility to care for each other, even during the hard times or when resources are few. Conservatives know their ideas for privatizing Social Security or cutting funding to Medicare and Medicaid are politically unpopular, but their ideology of individualism that borders on social Darwinism remains unchanged. SNAP is the perfect target for them. The image of what it does and whom it serves has been widely distorted by the media, while the people who benefit from it have little influence in the halls of Congress and pose little risk to the political careers of Republican members.
All the risk is yours. You’re free, and on your own. That’s what Daines and his co-conspirators mean by personal responsibility. The poor failed to take personal responsibility for their lives; now they must endure their failure’s consequences. SNAP and Obamacare violate natural law; defy, dishonor, and offend Heaven. Therefore, doing whatever it takes to achieve a de facto repeal of SNAP and Obamacare is morally justified, even morally required. Daines, et al, see themselves as doing the Lord’s work when they enforce what they believe is natural law. If the cure requires shutting down the federal government, or allowing the United States to default on its debts, well that’s the price of tough love and a price worth paying.
Zealotry such as this cannot be softened by reasoning with the zealots. Believing they possess The Truth, they’re immune to fact and logic, immune to political pressure, immune to compassion for the less fortunate. The only options for dealing with the members of the GOP’s suicide caucus are joining them or replacing them with people who have charity in their hearts and compassion in their souls.