Barney Mthombothi
Editor
Financial Mail, Johannesburg, South Africa
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American Hostages
by Barney Mthombothi
Editor’s Note—29 July 2011
Financial Mail
As the world watches the danse macabre in Washington DC with utter amazement and dread, one has to ask: who runs the place? Have America’s leaders taken leave of their senses? And are we witnessing the decline of a once great power?
Non-Americans must wonder how the US president — the most powerful man on earth, we’re told — can, after a lengthy, costly and often divisive election campaign, still end up with a job that does not even afford him the power to decide on his own budget. After so much trouble getting to the White House, the job should surely count for something.
But no, Barack Obama has been reduced to a supplicant on bended knee, pleading with the US Congress to lift the debt ceiling.
The American constitution was a product of a compromise between those advocating a strong central government and champions of states’ rights. What ultimately emerged was admittedly a fine document, but it discourages one branch of government from having things its way without the consent or connivance of the other. Congress makes laws; the president assents.
The system seems to work well most of the time, but with some difficulty when Congress and the presidency are in the hands of different parties. But over the years the leaders have been able to work out a compromise. For instance, Ronald Reagan, the darling of the Right, who arrived in Washington with an axe, ready to slash every government entitlement, had to compromise — and raise taxes to boot. He went on to have a cordial working relationship with Tip O’Neill, the legendary speaker of the house.
The debt ceiling, the cause of the current spat, has been raised more than 70 times in the past by both Democratic and Republican presidents. Republican George W Bush raised the ceiling many times with the approval of his party. Besides, he went on a spending binge on wars and he cut taxes , further constraining the state’s ability to raise revenue.
So why an impasse now? Some believe it has a lot to do with Obama, his colour to be exact. The Right, they believe, has tapped into some latent racism, fuelling the type of hatred against a sitting president unheard of in the country’s history. Sure, there are still cave-dwellers who regard the election of a black president as a dishonour to their country. The primary reason for the impasse though is the widening ideological gulf.
The current financial crisis has led to a lot of soul-searching among all ideological stripes. To some it has merely reinforced their beliefs, while others are genuinely questioning their own standpoints. The way governments have responded to the crisis has also created a perception that they were too ready to bail out the rich, while the poor are left to fend for themselves. US bankers, the villains of the piece, are lolling in their bonuses, while unemployment among working people is at a historic high.
Thus the Republican Party has become even more conservative, and the new Tea Party intakes to Congress want to succeed where Reagan failed. They’ll slash the government, even at the cost of losing their seats. Their intransigence threatens the livelihood of people who have no say in the matter. We’re all hostages to their fortune.
We live in an interconnected world. But globalisation can be a disempowering phenomenon. While it facilitates the movement of goods and services and the co-operation of, even unity of, nations, it weakens the ability of the nation state and thus its people to determine their own destiny. Citizens of the European Union’s member states have little say in the conduct of its affairs.
The American constitution was an arrangement for a bygone era. It’s led to a stalemate that threatens us all. But constitutions, like facts, are stubborn things. Once in place, they’re almost impossible to unravel.
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