Never in a million years did I think hostage-taking would be institutionalized in the US Congress.

The most dangerous part of this game is the Grand Bargain we’ve already agreed to, which is that the very economy of the United States can be held hostage, successfully, in exchange for increasingly radical partisan concessions. The moment we started “compromising” rather than having the press, both parties, and the citizens calling that out as unacceptable, unpatriotic, and un-a-few-other-things, we allowed even it to be used as a hostage at every single point going forward, from now until doomsday.

That was stupid, and remains stupid. But we’ve bought into it now, and there seems no capability to undo it.

If this is “Hope and Change” I’ll take gruel.