Con game

Paul Krugman, a Nobel winning economist writing an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times, explains not only why the GOP isn't participating in governing, but why they can't. His proof (not that we need any) of why the GOP isn't comes from their 40th attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act even though they know this attempt, like the previous 39, isn't going to be taken up by the Senate and Obama would veto it with amazing speed. In a parenthetical comment Krugman adds, "It’s curious how comforting they find the idea of denying health care to millions of Americans."

As for why the GOP can't participate in governing:

Think of it this way: For a long time the Republican establishment got its way by playing a con game with the party’s base. Voters would be mobilized as soldiers in an ideological crusade, fired up by warnings that liberals were going to turn the country over to gay married terrorists, not to mention taking your hard-earned dollars and giving them to Those People. Then, once the election was over, the establishment would get on with its real priorities — deregulation and lower taxes on the wealthy.

At this point, however, the establishment has lost control. Meanwhile, base voters actually believe the stories they were told — for example, that the government is spending vast sums on things that are a complete waste or at any rate don’t do anything for people like them. (Don’t let the government get its hands on Medicare!) And the party establishment can’t get the base to accept fiscal or political reality without, in effect, admitting to those base voters that they were lied to