Imagine you’re watching a basketball game during the NCAA tournament. It is late in the 4th quarter and one team has a sizable lead. It is such a large point differential that it is mathematically impossible for the other team to win. But the coach of the losing team is such a spiteful person, he wants to prolong the end as long as possible. He knows the winning team is playing its next game early the next day, so he decides to drag the game out. The later he makes them stay, the more tired they will be for the following matchup. His team can’t beat these guys, but he’ll do all he can to help to the next team beat them. So, he instructs his players to foul on every possession. Plus, he still has all his timeouts, and will use every single one of them to extend the game. None of this will affect the outcome of the game. The coach is just being petty. He would rather sully the other team’s victory than accept his own defeat gracefully.
This coach does not care about the integrity of the tournament. He does not care about the hopes and aspirations of the young players on the other team. He does not care about teaching his own players good sportsmanship. He does not care about the fans in the stands who have sit and watch the travesty unfold. He is a bitter loser who just wants to take out his frustration on everyone around him. He is selfish and shallow, with no regard for the collateral pain he is causing. The only thing he cares about is inflicting some sort of damage upon the winning team.
That coach is the Republican Party. That game is the American Rescue Plan. And the Tournament is the general health and well-being of our country and citizens. However, to make this analogy truly accurate, you would also have to imagine there is a bizarre NCAA rule that says no player can leave the arena until the game is officially over. And you would have to add in several seriously injured players who need to get to a hospital immediately. Only they cannot leave, not until the game clock hits 00:00. The chances of recovering from their injuries greatly diminishes with every minute that goes by without serious medical attention. Yet, the losing team keeps fouling on every inbounds pass. The game clock keeps stopping as the players writhe in agony. One player could possibly die if he does not get to a hospital soon. But The losing coach just called another time out for no reason.
GOP now stands for the “General Obstruction Party”. Americans are dying. Businesses are collapsing. Our children have not been in a classroom in almost a year. The Democrats in Congress are trying to pass legislation that can help with all these things. And it will pass. They have the votes to do it. Yet the Republicans are trying every stall tactic they can think of, pulling out any arcane piece of procedure that will make the process take longer. And for what possible reason? They want the American people to suffer simply because there is a Democrat in the White House. They want more people to die. They want more people to lose their jobs and houses. They want people to get as bitter, and angry as they are, in hopes that citizens will take their frustrations out on Democrats at the polls.
This is how little the GOP cares about America – how little they care about humanity. They will just keep stalling as long as possible. They will sit there smiling, calling time out, while the rest of us sit on the bench wincing in pain. We will watch the clock, waiting for it to hit zero, so our friends can finally get the attention they need.
3am Cynic 