Step back. Try for a moment to extrapolate what a government shutdown
and discredited U.S. currency could do to the economy and the public's
faith in government. Think beyond next year's congressional elections or
even the 2016 presidential race. Factor in existing demographic and
social trends. I did, and this is what I concluded:
1. The Republican Party is marginalizing itself to the brink of extinction.
2.
President Obama can't capitulate to GOP demands to unwind the fairly
legislated and litigated Affordable Care Act. To do so would be
political malpractice and a poor precedent for future presidents.
3. Despite the prior two points, Obama and his party won't escape voters' wrath. Democrats are less at fault but not blameless.
4.
This may be the beginning of the end of Washington as we know it. A
rising generation of pragmatic, non-ideological voters is appalled by
the dysfunctional leadership of their parents and grandparents. History
may consider October 2013 their breaking point. There will come a time
when Millennials aren't just mad as hell; they won't take it anymore.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/the-beginning-of-the-end-for-washington-20131001
