By Joshua Keating
 |
|
WASHINGTON, DC -
SEPTEMBER 30: The sun sets on an uneasy capital. Photo
by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
|
This
current government shutdown in the US is described using the tropes and tone
normally employed by the American media to describe events in other
countries.
WASHINGTON,
United States—The typical signs of state failure aren’t evident on the streets
of this sleepy capital city. Beret-wearing colonels have not yet taken to the
airwaves to declare martial law. Money-changers are not yet buying stacks of
useless greenbacks on the street.
But
the pleasant autumn weather disguises a government teetering on the brink.
Because, at midnight Monday night, the government of this intensely proud and
nationalistic people will shut down, a drastic sign of political dysfunction in
this moribund republic.
The
capital’s rival clans find themselves at an impasse, unable to agree on a
measure that will allow the American state to carry out its most basic
functions. While the factions have come close to such a shutdown before, opponents
of President Barack Obama’s embattled regime now appear prepared to allow the
government to be shuttered over opposition to a controversial plan intended to
bring the nation’s health care system in line with international standards.
Six
years into his rule, Obama’s position can appear confusing, even contradictory.
Though the executive retains control of the country’s powerful intelligence
service, capable of the extrajudicial execution of the regime’s opponents half
a world away, the president’s efforts to govern domestically have been stymied
in the legislature by an extremist rump faction of the main opposition party.
The
current rebellion has been led by Sen. Ted Cruz, a young fundamentalist
lawmaker from the restive Texas region, known in the past as a hotbed of
separatist activity. Activity in the legislature ground to a halt last week for
a full day as Cruz insisted on performing a time-honored American demonstration
of stamina and self-denial, which involved speaking for 21 hours, quoting liberally
from science fiction films and children’s books. The gesture drew wide media
attention, though its political purpose was unclear to outsiders.
With
hours remaining until the government of the world’s richest nation runs out of
money, attention now focuses on longtime opposition leader John
Boehner, under pressure from both the regime and the radical elements of his
own movement, who may be the only political figure with the standing needed to
end the standoff.
While
the country’s most recent elections were generally considered to be free and
fair (despite threats against international observers), the current
crisis has raised questions in the international community about the regime’s
ability to govern this complex nation of 300 million people, not to mention its
vast stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
Americans
themselves are starting to ask difficult questions as well. As this
correspondent’s cab driver put it, while driving down the poorly maintained
roads that lead from the airport, “Do these guys have any idea what they’re
doing to the country?”
Source: Slate.com
No comments:
Post a Comment