Austerity Reshaping U.S. Political Landscape: Republicans More Than Willing to Throw America Under the Bus

Long time Washington Post political reporter Thomas Edsall's new book "The Age of Austerity: How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics" beautifully summarizes my observations of the body politic in this formerly great country of ours.

Wait a second, did you say formerly great? Yes I did. Well then, you admit that President Obama has been the direct cause of the decline of American civilization?

Hardly. Quite to the contrary. Rather it has been the forces of conservatism, largely Republicans, Tea Baggers if you will, and their push for all things Austerity at the very time when every past Congress and administration, Democrat and Republican alike, have increased spending on public works projects to spur the economy, to get it over the hump, until consumer spending kicks back in and prosperity returns for all.

Like the engineers at Three Mile Island, the know nothing Republicans, Tea Baggers and fiscal conservatives are operating under misinformation and doing the exact opposite of what is needed to pull us out of a dire situation. The false notion that severely curtailing budgets and balancing the budget at the federal level is the panacea to all our problems is in fact a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately like Ronald Reagan adroitly and cynically proved, if you repeat a lie long enough to the ignorant and lazy American public, they will not only begin to believe it, they will embrace it. That is why all the stupid ignoramuses in this country think Reagan was some kind of great hero when in fact he was a brain addled idiot controlled by a martinet of a wife who screwed Frank Sinatra in the White House when he was out of town.

What does any of this have to do with Tom Edsall's new book? Not much. But it sure felt good getting it off my chest.

To see what Tom Edsall's new book is really like go to the PBS NewsHour site and watch or read the transcript of his excellent interview with Judy Woodruff.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june12/ageofausterity_01-26.html