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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWill the GOP go into full treason mode?
The lunatics are running the asylum in the US House. What they are doing now is childish. But in a couple weeks it will be time to raise the debt limit. If Republicans block that, it would cause real damage to the country.
If they go that far, they will have crossed the Rubicon. It would be a sign that they are willing to smash the republic to get the policy outcomes they want. Where that would lead is anyone's guess.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)What they are doing is irresponsible and potentially damaging politically. It's not treason, it's politics. More, it's representative democracy in action. They are doing what their constituents expect. Unlike Democrats who will continue to vote for the party regardless of what their representatives actually do, social conservative tea party voters will not. They don't hope for representation, they insist upon it.
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)The rank and file teabaggers may be too stupid to get it. But people in Congress know better.
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)If the Republicans force a default on the debt, that could cause chaos in the world economy. That's not politics. It's sedition.
Imagine if it was 1941 and Republicans insisted on eliminating the New Deal in exchange for voting for funds to fight imperial Japan. It's just about as serious as that.
bhikkhu
(10,718 posts)Pearl harbor didn't shut down the government, but our home-grown tea party may well do so.
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)Default on the debt would be much worse.
bhikkhu
(10,718 posts)is one way of screwing up the economic recovery, one in a long string of similar moves. Imagine what we could accomplish without the absolute stupidity of obstruction we've had for so long? I hope they hang by it (figuratively, of course) in the next elections.
longship
(40,416 posts)It's in the Constitution. The reason why it's in there is because the founders realized how a charge of treason was used historically against political opponents. The codification in the Constitution is an attempt to cut off that use..
From Article III, Section 3:
So yes. Calling Republicans out for treason in this case is very much hyperbole.
I hope this is helpful.
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)Last edited Sun Sep 29, 2013, 10:03 AM - Edit history (1)
... Than most terrorists could dream of inflicting. Economic sabotage can be a form of warfare.
gordianot
(15,238 posts)I know two bee keepers who are downright distraught. My hope is the current Republican show is that a stupid show.
nebenaube
(3,496 posts)JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)I happen to hold the same opinion you do, that the debt limit should be raised, but I do not hold the opinion that anyone who holds a differing opinion is guilty of treason.
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)Everyone knows the what the consequences of default would be. If they are willing to do that, then they cease to be merely the political opposition. They become participants in a rebellion.
onenote
(42,714 posts)LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)Intentionally damaging the economy could be a form of unconventional asymmetric warfare.
onenote
(42,714 posts)To achieve political gains in the next election? That's despicable, but its not treason.
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)Then I think it would be safe to assume that they have moved out of the realm of normal, electoral politics and into something much more dangerous. Breaking up the union would be their next step.
onenote
(42,714 posts)I'm guessing you are not someone (like some of us here) who had "treason" shouted at them when they protested the Vietnam War. I'm curious, when many of us were urging -- indeed, demanding -- that Congress cut off funding for the Vietnam War -- would you have been along side us or with those calling it "treason."
What the Republicans are doing is outrageous. And hopefully they will pay for it at the polls.
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)In fact, withdrawing from 'Nam would have helped the country.
I think you just do not get how bad a default would be.
Merely shutting down the government is not nearly as serious as default would be.
To suggest that causing the country to default on its debt would be just another expression of "politics as usual" reveals that you really do not grasp the seriousness of such an act.
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)It will be more subtle. Subtle like a hand grenade.
Rex
(65,616 posts)All that drinking wasn't to celebrate, they want to stay drunk as the ship goes down. GOP always had it in for democracy and the Republic. Don't care how many bodies stack up. They are the most dysfunctional group ever to go extreme and become docile.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)spanone
(135,844 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)onenote
(42,714 posts)Defaulting will be disaster for the economy, but will it "destroy" the United States in the sense of dissolving the Union or putting it under control of foreign occupiers?
B Calm
(28,762 posts)the offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which one owes allegiance.
Republican Congress threatens or attempts to shut down the government only to defund Obama care which happens to be the law of the land, it is what it is: treason.
onenote
(42,714 posts)"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court."
Note the word "only."
Aside from the obvious fact that pursuing a very bad policy for the economy is not "treason" under the Constitution, what is the basis for your assertion that economic calamity (and we've had them before) will "overthrow" the government?
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)Economic sabotage can be a form of unconventional asymmetric warfare.
yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)This should not go unpunished.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
bluestate10
(10,942 posts)The party has done everything that it could to deny Americans good paying jobs, gun safety and freedom to manage their daily lives.