"This isn't a budget. This is a cause."

So said Representative Paul Ryan as he unveiled his budget plan today.  Ryan's budget will cut nearly six trillion dollars in spending over the next decade.  It's a bold proposition, and one that I do not feel qualified to comment on just yet as I have not had time to read over and analyze all of Ryan's ideas.

Having said that, Ryan's comment today struck a chord and it wasn't a good one. Who announces their budget with this line, "This isn't a budget. This is a cause." The answer is someone (or in the case many someones) who is not concerned with a better America or at the very least does not understand how to make America better.  Those someones constitute a group called the Tea Party.  It is ironic now that in November there were questions about whether Tea Party politicians would arrive in Washington and become co-opted into the Republican establishment.  Far from it, the Republican establishment has become co-opted into the Tea Party.

And this is bad, very bad for our nation.  From what I've read about Paul Ryan's budget, there are actually a lot of good ideas within it.  Again, I'm not ready to pass judgement on that budget one way or another at this time.  But in the face of a looming federal shutdown, it has to be pointed out that the Tea Party is playing politics with the welfare of our country.  There is a government shutdown looming over the Tea Party's unwillingness to compromise on minor cuts in discretionary spending that would not put even a dent in our deficit.  This isn't a budget.  This is a cause.

Reality doesn't matter to these people.  A government shutdown means millions of people will not receive essential services. It also means government employees won't get their paychecks, which of course also means they won't spend their paychecks, which is bad for the economy.  This is a cause.

By allowing itself to become beholden to the campaign promise of the Tea Party, the Republican Party has sold out America.  Forget compromise, forget sense. Cutting 100 billion from this year's budget does nothing to fix our long term deficit. It achieves nothing except to deny needy Americans benefits and fulfill a campaign pledge.  It doesn't address long term issues, which Paul Ryan is attempting to do.  A government shutdown benefits NO ONE.  This is a cause.

The problem with causes it that they can consume one's focus and become so important that they obscure evidence and impair judgement.  What we're dealing with isn't a budget, it's a cause, and this particular cause is threatening to derail America's economy by refusing to acknowledge that the fight to be fought is one over rising healthcare costs, the insolvency of Social Security and defense spending on things like amphibious landing vehicles.  The fight is not to be fought over the budget for a fiscal year that is half gone.  But this is a cause, so the fight is going to happen, and unless moderate, sensible Republicans realize that they've cowered before the Tea Party and come to a compromise with Democrats (a compromise that would cut 30 billion from this year's budget and is on the table for the taking), all of America is going to suffer.