Shutting down government, Republican redux

Republicans seem to be lining up to threaten to not raise the debt ceiling for the government, which would shut down--again--that same government.

This is no way to work together for the betterment of the country, for sure.

They did this once before, back in 1995-96, the Republicans and it blew up in their faces.  They were then blamed for the government not working, and rightfully so.  They did it, the people didn't like it so they should get the blame for it.

Now they seem to be headed the same way again.

Several freshmen Republicans have already come out against raising the debt ceiling:

A handful of incoming Republican lawmakers — including Sen.-elect Mike Lee (R-UT) and Reps.-elect Jeff Denhem (R-CA) and Tim Scott (R-SC) — have said that they will not vote to increase the debt ceiling, even though the U.S. government will reach its borrowing limit early next year. “I’m going to vote against raising the national debt ceiling. We simply can’t continue to mortgage the future or our unborn children and grandchildren,” Lee said.

Plenty of Republican freshman besides these three also ran on opposition to a debt ceiling increase, and according to Rep.-elect Bill Johnson (R-OH), many of them have agreed to stick to their guns when the vote comes:

Rep.-elect Bill Johnson of Ohio said those who ran on such messages didn’t intend to reverse themselves now. “Most of us agreed that to increase the limit would be a betrayal of what we told voters we would do,” he said.

Then they were followed by Rep.-elect Alan Nunnelee (R-MS), Rep.-elect Tim Walberg (R-MI), Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Rep. Steve King (R-IA), Sen.-elect Mike Lee (R-UT), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and finally, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX). 

And while there are some similarities between this "showdown" and the last one, in the mid-1990's, this time shutting down the government by not raising the debt ceiling could be far more negative and financially devastating to both the country and the world markets:

As the Center for American Progress’ David Min pointed out, failure to raise the debt ceiling could be disastrous:

The financial markets are on edge today, with U.S. Treasury bonds being the safe haven for most investment capital. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling would recklessly disrupt the sale and purchase of new Treasury bonds, and could potentially cause a run on outstanding Treasurys as well, as investors sought other investments. This could have catastrophic consequences for our economy as well as the economic stability of the rest of the world.

Such a move will also increase long-term deficits and debt, while cutting off Social Security and Medicare benefits for millions of seniors. But if Johnson is to be believed, many incoming Republican freshman will put that second to their Tea Party ideology.
 
For once, I'm hoping these empty, shallow clowns don't go through with their hair-brained, ignorant idea. 
 
Seeing them fall is terrific. 
 
I don't want them taking us all with them.

Links:  http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/10/big_freeze.html
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/22/freshmen-betrayal/
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/16/gohmert-shutdown/