"This whole episode has underscored an idea that's central to the GOP's governing philosophy -- government just doesn't work. It takes triggers, and committees and hostage taking to get anything done. Had deficit reduction come about in a reasonable manner, the GOP would have been a big loser. They exist to prove that government is inherently dysfunctional."
-- The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins in a piece called "What Does the Debt Ceiling Deal Mean for Ordinary Americans?"
This is a damn terrific point, and one that needed to be made. By engaging in the kind of antics they did, the GOP basically proved their point that government is a mess. It's near perfect, circular meta-reasoning. It's also complete horseshit. It's like a boyfriend or girlfriend picking a fight with you or otherwise doing something awful, then when you take the bait or react angrily saying, "See, this is why I can't be with you."
It also highlights the central paradox of the current crop of Republicans and why their motives and actions should be constantly eyed with suspicion: They claim to believe that the very entity they work for is hardly necessary; the more they're able to sabotage it from the inside the more they have to gain with their constituency. Put it another way: If you were a business-owner or manager, would you hire someone who made no effort to hide the fact that he thought your business -- and entire industry, for that matter -- sucked? That if he had his way there'd barely even be a need for you to hire him in the first place?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the overarching GOP ethos, circa 2011.
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