We are now just hours from a possible government shutdown and just days from a possible debt crisis. James Fallows has a nice piece up explaining that these situations are not simply the result of “gridlock,” despite many journalists’ (understandable?) efforts to frame the story as a both-sides-do-it situation.
Yes, gridlock is a problem when one party controls a chamber of Congress and another controls the White House, preventing them from working on collective goals, but inaction really isn’t the problem here.
Similarly, some have sought to portray the current double-crisis as a consequence of polarization. Well, polarization contributed to this, but that’s hardly everything that’s going on. Polarization simply means that the major parties have moved apart from each other ideologically.
Read more at mischieefsoffaction.com
