...notices that the Republican Party is bonkers; this bears quoting:
[T]he Republican Party may [!!!] no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative....
The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.
The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.
The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor.
But to members of this movement, tax levels are everything. Members of this tendency have taken a small piece of economic policy and turned it into a sacred fixation. They are willing to cut education and research to preserve tax expenditures. Manufacturing employment is cratering even as output rises, but members of this movement somehow believe such problems can be addressed so long as they continue to worship their idol....
The struggles of the next few weeks are about what sort of party the G.O.P. is — a normal conservative party or an odd protest movement that has separated itself from normal governance, the normal rules of evidence and the ancient habits of our nation.
Not surprisingly, this understates the situation: the Republican Party was a "normal conservative party" in 1975; Reagan sent it off the rails, setting it on the road of hardcore reaction, and it has only gotten worse since. Thus, the United States, potentially the world's most dangerous nation, as well as one whose economic fortunes can affect the world, has only two viable political parties, one of which is utterly deranged, and the other of which is a motley collection of 1975 Republicans and a few liberals. This can only end badly.
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