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Kevin McCarthy's scheme to blow up the economy smacks of John Galt. Biden can thwart both of them. [1]
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Date: 2023-05-08
Tea Party protester marching on Tax Day, April 15, 2009, in Chicago. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The literary leitmotif in Ayn Rand’s 1959 novel, Atlas Shrugged, was a lengthy scheme by John Galt to extract all the “producers” from the American economy — and then to watch it (the economy) crumble under the weight of all the remaining “moochers” and “looters”. The book’s title alludes to just that outcome — Atlas (i.e. John Galt and his fellow producers) finally grows tired of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, so he “shrugs” and the world (i.e. the economy) is thrown into chaos.
I have zero doubt that Rand’s novel lies at the heart of Kevin McCarthy’s 2023 scheme to destroy the American economy. McCarthy knows that his audience (voters who think like the members of the Freedom Caucus) worship Rand’s philosophy of “freedom from government”. He also knows that many of them think the time has finally arrived to unleash a Galt-like revolution in America. Where Trump failed, McCarthy (and his ilk) are hoping to to succeed.
Of course, these wingnuts fantasize that some 2023 versions of John Galt and Dagny Taggart will show up in the nick of time to rescue the “freedom lovers” from their self-induced chaos. In fact, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert see no problem with disrupting the world’s economy — after all, it won’t be their fault. They are just mimicking John Galt’s actions, which (based on Rand’s self-affirmation) must be brilliant.
So where does Dark Brandon fit into this picture? Well, first off, he has the U.S. Constitution and nearly 250 years of American history on his side. He also has more than half of U.S. voters rooting for him to pull another miracle out of his hat, like he did in 2021/2022 with Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction.
DK had a couple of very interesting stories about the debt ceiling and the 14th Amendment on Friday and today. Of course, the upshot of both is that the 14th Amendment has already spoken on the constitutionality of the debt ceiling — and its answer is NO.
But we hear lots of weaseling from some economists, who think that anything other than a harmonious compromise between Biden and McCarthy will “rattle” international markets. Can Dark Brandon actually muster the political muscle to call McCarthy’s bluff by telling him (behind closed doors) exactly how he’s going to invoke the 14th Amendment to trivialize McCarthy’s Galt moment? And if McCarthy continues with his hostage taking, can Biden simply execute the plan that he threatened Kevin with in private?
The answer to both questions is YES!
Now, I’m sure there are a number of DK folks who may have specific reasons to doubt my optimism, but let’s play this out to see where it will go.
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