The Fire Next Time

In a recent column in The New York Times, Paul Krugman referred to comments made by former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo). Simpson co-chaired a presidential committee created to recommend ways to reduce the federal budget. The committee report suggested that draconian cuts in programs like Social Security and Medicare will be necessary in order to balance the budget.
Krugman noted that Simpson expects a "bloodbath" when extending the government's debt limit comes around in April 2011. Recently-elected Republicans, Simpson said, would demand deep cuts in spending in order to approve an increase in the debt limit. Without an expansion of the debt limit, the federal government will be shut down.
Krugman correctly assesses the problem when he suggests that Republicans don't want government to work, unless they are the party in power. When they take control of the House in January, they will be able to more effectively block any action by Obama and the Democrats.
The Republican strategy, it appears, is to allow millions of Americans to suffer through 2012. Millions of unemployed Americans no longer receiving unemployment benefits, the Republicans believe, will turn control of the government over to a Republican administration. The Republicans would tear down the government in order to prevent any Democratic successes under Obama. I won't be the first to suggest that this political strategy is nothing less than treason. The Republican Party has demonstrated very clearly that they put the success of their party ahead of the needs of this country in a very dark time.
It is a very dangerous strategy that could well backfire. Republicans following this strategy are counting on a passive electorate who will sit on their hands while waiting for things to get better. But the GOP strategy supposes that middle class Americans will hunker down quietly while the institutions they rely on fail them repeatedly. Just between now and January, 2011, millions of long-term unemployed will see their benefits come to an end with little hope for a rescue from Washington.
Perhaps the GOP strategy will work and Republicans will sweep Obama and the Democrats in 2012.
But what if slashing government programs has a different result? What if middle class Americans rise up the way the Tea Baggers did over health care? What if millions of former middle class workers take to the streets to vent their frustration and anger? In the 60's, we saw that sort of anger and frustration fuel riots in places like Detroit, Newark and Watts. Half a century later, the same sort of civil unrest could turn places like Las Vegas, Seattle and Atlanta into smoldering ruins.
How far can the Republicans push the squeezed middle class before it erupts in violence? I don't know and neither do the Republicans who are pursuing this cause with such zeal. Without continued assistance, it will be a long cold winter in millions of American homes. By springtime, the despair of winter will have formented into something that could explode come summertime.
The Republican Party has been conducting class warfare for some time now without consequences. What will they do when the middle class rises up and fights back?