Government shutdown an 'exercise in stupidity'

To the Editor:

What has happened in Washington in the last month was nothing more then an exercise in stupidity.

Senator Ted Cruz, representing the tea party radicals in the Senate, took the floor of the Senate on Oct. 1 and began his clown show, calling for the appeal of the Affordable Care Act, better know as Obamacare, or else he and the Republicans would shut the government down.

President Obama didn’t flinch, informing tea party Republicans that neither he nor the American people would be held hostage by appealing any law, including Obamacare, that was legally passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president.

Cruz and his radical cohorts in the House shut the government down and also threatened to not raise the debt limit, allowing America to default on its loan, allowing for the total destruction of the United States economy and the world banking system.

You see, all these strong-arm tactics are a result of Citizens United, whereas it is now legal for corporations like the Koch brothers pouring huge amounts of money into Republican primary election campaigns, literally buying these clowns to do their bidding. They know nothing of how a democratic system of government should work and don’t really care.

What played out in the 16 days of shutdown was a attempt to destroy our democracy where a small group of right-wing anarchists with a libertarian, fascist ideology, that are bent on destroying every social program that has saved millions of American’s from starvation, illness or death through Medicaid, Medicare, affordable housing, safe food, education, a safety net that protects the elderly, the disabled and children.

These radicals are not conservatives. They are a pestilence feeding on voters’ ignorance and cynicism, preying on fear as a period of unprecedented prosperity wanes. They represent the desperate last grasp of the white majority that thrives on the hate of the president and are willing to use any means possible to take him and the government down, regardless what would happen to our country and the American people.

If you are old enough to remember the 1950s, you remember Senator Joe McCarthy. McCarthy was the Ted Cruz of his time. McCarthy had a so-called black list of dangerous Communists that according to him had infiltrated Congress and the State Department.

McCarthy ruined the careers of 208 innocent government employees.

Roger Halquist

Bruce Crossing