GOP won’t stand up to Tea Party

GOP won’t stand up to Tea Party

As we approach the deadline for raising the U.S. debt limit, economists have warned us repeatedly of the catastrophic consequences of a default, but many of us believe that the Republican Congress is simply engaging in political rhetoric and that some last minute deal will be worked out.

I’m not so sure; here are my reasons:

The Tea Party members of Congress have a grossly distorted vision of how our national economy works, and appear to be entirely ignorant of international economics. They suggest that a default wouldn’t be that harmful, or might even be beneficial. None of that it true of course. A default would cause a financial firestorm that would destroy the credit rating of the U.S. and would likely plunge the nation into another recession. If you need further proof, look at what happened in 2011 when Congress narrowly avoided a default — the stock market crashed and our credit rating was downgraded.

A threat is no good unless you are actually willing to use it. To establish credibility, the Tea Party and House Republicans have shut down the government. That hasn’t accomplished their goals, so now they threaten to force the nation into default. What makes anyone think that they won’t carry out their threat? They are politically dishonest, and they have determined that their agenda is more important than the financial welfare of the nation.

Speaker Boehner and other GOP leaders have miscalculated and have no political courage. Their fear of being “primaried” by the Tea Party has forced them to pander to the extremists in their party. We are left with elected officials who refuse to govern.

This is a dangerous moment for our nation. Call your congressmen and tell them to end this insanity.

William S. Hicks

Carpentersville