But Congress already has the power of the purse. The debt ceiling simply gives the majority of either house a hostage for extracting their demands from the other house and/or President. To repeat the quote from my prior post:
Congress, through budget and appropriations bills, has sole authority to decide how much the government will spend, so he said “it makes no sense to have a secondary rule to then object to the deficit that emerges from the other decisions.”
Make no mistake, this administration would thumb their noses at Congress if it were not for the power of the purse. I would also argue that the parliaments of Europe are a complete mess and have absolutely desire to emulate them.
I am not an expert on the parliaments of Europe. However, I reject the notion that America is better than every other country in the world in every way. I find it ironic that we are using the debt limit, a questionable construct that no other democratic country except Denmark has, to ensure that we remain the only developed country without any universal medical safety net. I am also not an expert on Obamacare and would not be surprised if there are many things about it that will need to change over time. However, I think our current medical system is insane. We have a system where, if you should lose your job and insurance when you're 64, you're on your own. But as soon as you turn 65, you become a part of a special club with most all of your medical expenses paid. I know someone who was just a few months over 65 when they had a massive heart attack. Had they had it a few months earlier, their entire life would be different. They were fortunate enough to win the Medicare lottery. Then under George W. Bush, we piled yet another entitlement on them. Seniors are the ones most in need of medical care. But a rational society would phase those benefits in or share some of them with their entire population. Instead, we just keep piling more benefits on our seniors.
In any case, I think we need a little more humility in America. Yes, we are exceptional in certain areas but, when every other country seems to be doing better in other areas using another system, we need to be more little more open to giving those systems a try. Instead, we are wasting our time and effort holding hostages and demonizing those in the opposing party.
I am not suggesting that. I do suggest that the American governmental system IS better than ALL the parliamentary systems of Europe. As Benjamin Franklin opined, we have a Republic- if we can keep it.
My family ran from Europe. You can keep it. You can keep the bias, war, and hatred of Europe. Piss on them- with all due respect.
As for being 'humble', we saved Europe twice. We fought, bled and died for them. Our sons are buried in their cemeteries. We spent untold fortunes rebuilding them, defending them, and letting them lecture US on how they are superior. People ran from them, my family included.
Screw humble.