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Column Debt ceiling, government shutdown: what is the future of American democracy?

The world breathed a collective sigh of relief when an eleventh hour deal ended the US government shutdown – but it only fully funds the government until January, writes Larry Donnelly.

AFTER COMING PERILOUSLY close to causing “a massive disruption the world over” – in the words of International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde – US congressional leaders struck a deal at the 11th hour this past week to end the 16-day long partial government shutdown and to raise the debt ceiling (i.e., how much money the US can borrow).  Lagarde’s view was widely shared by business and political leaders around the world.  Like all of us ordinary citizens, none of them could imagine the consequences of the world’s largest economy suddenly having no/limited access to money.

While the world may now breathe a collective sigh of relief, the truth is that the deal only fully funds the government until January 15th and lifts the debt limit until February 7th of next year.  The “kicking the can down the road” metaphor has been overused at this stage, but it is apt.

Congressional Republicans are the big losers

Politically, the most recent data shows that congressional Republicans are the big losers, with nearly 80% of the American people holding them responsible for what has transpired.  Those “Tea Partiers” who would not fully fund government operations and who have questioned whether the debt ceiling really matters seem possessed by their hatred for President Obama and by their vehement opposition to the health care reform package he got through Congress and successfully stood for re-election on. 162 of them – 144 in the US House of Representatives and 18 in the US Senate – actually voted against the deal to avert an unprecedented calamity for their country.  That is a disgrace.

On the flip side, however, there is the sad fact that the US debt now exceeds $17 trillion.  This astonishing and ever-ballooning figure can be attributed, in significant part, to increasingly unsustainable spending on entitlement programmes, such as Social Security and Medicare, that leftist Democrats stubbornly refuse to reckon with.

So unless congressional leaders in both parties respond to President Obama’s plea and adopt a “new approach” to dealing with the national debt in the next few months, a similar ugly drama might again unfold early next year.

And unfortunately, it is ugly dramas that the rest of the world has grown accustomed to when following events in Washington, DC.  Gridlock, corruption and money are three words that so many people outside the US say come to their minds when they think about American politics.  This leads some to make harsh assumptions about the country’s electorate and to conclude that American democracy is broken beyond repair.  In my view, they are wrong on both fronts; yet there is no question that there are very serious problems on Capitol Hill in 2013.

Paucity of moderate voices

Perhaps the most vexing of these is a paucity of moderate voices in the two parties.  In the past, there were sizable factions of liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats – otherwise known as moderates.  Now, it doesn’t take much more than the fingers on two hands to count their number in the House of Representatives and Senate.  Instead, both sides of the aisle, especially the Republican side, are dominated by individuals who are convinced that they are always right and that those who take a different view are always wrong.

It is exceedingly difficult to work constructively when this is the case.  In the past, those in the middle were sufficiently numerous that they could blunt the absolutists on their right and left and forge compromise.  Even today, the small band of remaining moderates like Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic Senator Mark Pryor are being widely credited with getting the deal done on the government shutdown and debt ceiling.

How is it that American politics has come to be dominated by those on the ideological poles?  One factor is certainly the very powerful interest groups on the left and right who play a larger than ever, grossly disproportionate role in the primary contests each party holds to select its general election candidates.  The nationwide networks and extraordinary financial resources these groups have cultivated and can bring to bear mean that the candidates who most stridently toe the line on “their” issues have a pronounced advantage in primaries.

A second, related factor is congressional redistricting.  In 34 out of 50 states, state legislatures have the power to reconfigure more than 2/3 of the 435 districts that comprise the House of Representatives and typically do so in a partisan fashion.  The result has been that there are relatively few competitive districts.  Most are either reliably Republican or Democrat.  As such, to win elections, a large majority of congressional candidates must run to the hard right or to the hard left, depending on the district.  In particular, in the safe Republican districts, candidates, once elected, cannot be seen to cooperate with the other side, on anything, or they may face an intra-party challenger in the next primary who will likely have received substantial funding from outside interest groups.

The future of American democracy?

This is not to say that American politics used to be a bastion of civility or equity.  Government shutdowns have happened before.  The place of money has always been too prominent.  But this past week, 162 members of the current Congress brazenly voted to put the future of America and Americans in real jeopardy.  That is very different.

Not even big business interests could persuade these Republicans to ensure temporary stability.  They are a new breed of Republicans whose constituents are disproportionately poor and struggling, but who vote for them because of their similar views on cultural issues and because they are desperately worried about the future of their country for a myriad of good reasons.  These Americans care little about the global economy because it has already left them behind.  This emerging base of support for the Tea Party engenders a complicated and incongruous new political dynamic that is very worrying and is a further impediment to getting more moderates elected to Congress.

All this said, I can see why outside observers are so down on American democracy.  I am too at the moment.  I can’t give up though, especially when I read the words one long time Capitol Hill observer wrote after this past week’s vote: “after all the fighting, all the battling of left and right in this country, we’re in this thing together.  In the end what matters is the system of self-government itself.  It’s what gives us the chance to make things better.”  Here’s hoping the US Congress eventually hears and heeds these eternally prescient words.

Larry Donnelly is a Boston attorney, a Law Lecturer at NUI Galway and a political columnist with IrishCentral.com.

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41 Comments
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    Mute Eric Cosgrove
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    Dec 16th 2011, 2:36 PM

    These people have some F#%$^ing Neck

    139
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    Mute Jay funk
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    Dec 16th 2011, 5:57 PM

    The need a big neck to hang the gold chains off, just like B.A.

    25
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    Mute Kathleen O Toole Tighe
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:03 PM

    Couldn’t be happier for her
    Did she really think the judge would believe her when she said she hadn’t a clue ,
    About time she got her comeuppance !

    117
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    Mute Declan Carroll
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    Dec 16th 2011, 6:00 PM

    They have necks like a jockey’s b*llix -

    32
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    Mute Gary Keegan
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    Dec 16th 2011, 2:54 PM

    Not according to the dumb fooks in Cavan who are still defending what this man has done. The poor Quinn’s railroaded by the government and NAMA.

    115
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    Mute Spillinksuz
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    Dec 16th 2011, 2:36 PM

    I’d say some how Mrs Quinn will just fine

    111
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    Mute Réada Quinn
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:18 PM

    Delighted! Silly woman using the “stupid woman card”. Won’t wash anymore. Ireland’s waking from our slumber. All of us !!!

    97
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    Mute Rommel Burke
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:07 PM

    Damn. I was hoping to use the old “I’m thick as sh**e, and the wife put fierce pressure on me to get a mortgage” line myself.
    Ah well, suppose i’ll have to try and pay it back now like the Quinns no doubt will……………..

    94
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    Mute Cormac Flanagan
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:34 PM

    Ya was hoping to use it myself to get out of the mortgage. She’s ruined it for all of us.

    51
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    Mute Glyn Carragher
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    Dec 16th 2011, 10:10 PM

    No Ive just checked and it appears that Mrs Quinn did in fact sign as a guarantor for my loan to buy Italy … whaooo!

    11
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    Mute Bazza
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:55 PM

    I have been unemployed for almost a year.

    I got a ‘dear john’ today on a role I put a lot of time and work into getting.

    I am feeling low today and a bit emotional.

    Im not normally into Schadenfreude, but I cannot tell you have much this has lifted my spirits

    90
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    Mute William O'Shea
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    Dec 16th 2011, 6:59 PM

    Hope things pick up for ya……….. Truth is this judgement probably wiped the schadenfreude smile from Her mush!

    22
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    Mute Shane Brehony
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    Dec 17th 2011, 12:35 PM

    What kind of a donkey can put thumbs down to comments like this .

    2
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    Mute ged_star
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:20 PM

    Great news, now all we have to do is nail all the other f**kers that ruined the country, including politicians.

    88
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    Mute Jammy Mason
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:29 PM

    That would make it a very happy Christmas for all of us :-)

    41
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    Mute Tony Stanley
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    Dec 16th 2011, 2:52 PM

    Delighted for her! So much for that additional ivory back scratcher!

    87
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    Mute John Murray
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:12 PM

    She won’t pay a penny!! But the 67 year old lady after her in court would get 14 days in mountjoy for not having a tv license!!

    79
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    Mute jason bourne
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:49 PM

    No She will not… Stop this myth of people getting Mountjoy over tv licences

    29
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    Mute Noddy Mooney
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    Dec 16th 2011, 6:09 PM

    Don’t pay the lesser fee of 100 euro household tax and you’ll get prison.

    31
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    Mute Manfred Meyer
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:21 PM

    The mind boggles.
    Was Sean Quinn married to a bimbo?
    I very much doubt that.

    64
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    Mute Rodger O Waters
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:40 PM

    He wishes,

    42
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    Mute Ed Appleby
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:21 PM

    Pleading ignorance is no defence for Mrs Quinn, she was more than happy to live well off the proceeds of her husbands ‘undue earnings’. The woman’s whinging is enough to make you puke given the amount of money, property and other valuables this particular family have in their possession and that’s only the wealth we actually know about, you can be sure there are plenty of hidden assets and offshore accounts squirrelled away out of the reach of any Irish banks or govt. agencies How many Quinn assets are in the names of his children, grandchildren etc? This Quinn woman won’t be worrying about where her christmas dinner is coming from this year unlike many others in Ireland whose husbands didn’t gamble on casino banks and take punts on developments that turned into turkeys!

    54
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    Mute Adam Magari
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:23 PM

    Some would say that undue influence has been the root of the country’s problems for many years.

    48
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    Mute Stephen Pluck
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:34 PM

    No business knowledge but a director of over 90 companies…. Pull the other one there love

    47
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    Mute Anthony Harland
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    Dec 16th 2011, 5:15 PM

    Director of 63 Irish companies, 28 UK companies and a company secretary in 10 but God bless her she still doesn’t even have a basic knowledge of business matters. Ah bless, is there some charity I can donate to so that she can get a bit of an education. Such a sad story and so close to Christmas too….some neck on her!

    44
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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Dec 16th 2011, 3:10 PM

    Happy days :-)

    44
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    Mute Kevin McCarthy
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:43 PM

    She could maybe now do a bit of stand up comedy. Great material there. Then maybe a tour and a Fringe festival slot.

    33
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    Mute Cormac Flanagan
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    Dec 16th 2011, 5:06 PM

    She does need the money

    19
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    Mute Ryan Murphy
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    Dec 16th 2011, 5:31 PM

    Any of Seanie (why are they all called Sean?) Quinn’s valiant defenders about, now that he has taken to hiding behind his wife?

    32
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    Mute Siobhan Ni Fhaolain
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    Dec 16th 2011, 4:22 PM

    Nice try! Close…. But no cigar!!!

    19
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    Mute Dee Ferry Kennedy
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    Dec 16th 2011, 8:37 PM

    Merry Christmas now let’s get the rest of the bastards starting at the top

    17
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    Mute michael cuthbert
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    Dec 16th 2011, 6:48 PM

    Interesting. Is this the first court case where one of the super-rich has been found against? A woman (silly trying to play the blond defence), not directly involved in amassing a fortune. Misogyny?

    15
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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 16th 2011, 6:59 PM

    Are you excluding her super-rich husband who was the subject of a €1.6bn order against the same bank only a few weeks ago?

    12
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    Mute William O'Shea
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    Dec 16th 2011, 7:21 PM

    I concur one hundred percent with this judgement…….. but I suspect for a female in a patriarchal FF home only one opinion prevails……….

    11
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    Mute Frank Buffets
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    Dec 16th 2011, 7:10 PM

    First we had declaring bankrupt in northern Ireland and now this. One can only imagine Sean Quinn frantically transferring all the family assets further down the chain of family members. Ah bless, at least the solicitors will get a nice Christmas bonus.

    10
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    Mute Graham Gallagher
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    Dec 16th 2011, 10:54 PM

    Neck like a jockeys on mrs quinn!

    7
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    Mute Titus d
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    Dec 17th 2011, 2:09 AM

    Mrs Quinn will need to start a few house cleaning jobs to pay it back

    6
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    Mute Frank2521
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    Dec 16th 2011, 10:54 PM

    Call Bertie for a dig out – he is doing well now on the horses I hear.

    4
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    Mute Paraic Conlon
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    Dec 17th 2011, 3:35 AM

    Good bless her , ” I didnt know wat I was signing” 3 million are you fuc@ing serious, wat bout my mortgage, if I told the judge I didn’t know wat I was signing at the time wat would he say, he would say tough shite keep paying

    3
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    Mute Rommel Burke
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    Dec 17th 2011, 10:19 AM

    Or probably find us in contempt of court! My 9 year old comes up with more believable excuses ffs!

    3
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