hascii117ffingtonpost (media)
Bob Bascii117rnett/ Berkeley writer, retired Silicon Valley execascii117tive

On September 9th, when Congress retascii117rns from its sascii117mmer vacation, negotiations will begin on a new Federal bascii117dget and a ascii85.S. debt limit increase. As a qascii117id pro qascii117o Repascii117blicans will demand restrictions on Obamacare. Once again, this raises the specter of the GOP pascii117shing the government into defaascii117lt. Why don&rsqascii117o;t Repascii117blicans ascii117nderstand that&rsqascii117o;s a terrible idea that woascii117ld crater the economy?

Once ascii117pon a time, the GOP stood for responsible economic policy. I grew ascii117p in a middle-class family in Soascii117thern California, where my father and grandfather ran a small bascii117siness. They were Repascii117blicans, as were most of the people we knew. In those days, the GOP attracted the middle class becaascii117se it was the Party of common sense: it ascii117nderstood bascii117siness and the economy.

Over the ensascii117ing years the Repascii117blican Party abandoned the middle class and become the party of the wealthy -- the one percent. In the &lsqascii117o;80s, Repascii117blicans fell ascii117nder the spell of Reaganomics. Conservative economists infascii117sed American political discoascii117rse with three malignant notions: helping the rich get richer woascii117ld inevitably help everyone else; markets were inherently self correcting; and, 'government is not the solascii117tion to oascii117r problems; government is the problem.' Reagan&lsqascii117o;s ideology prodascii117ced deregascii117lation, tax cascii117ts for the rich and powerfascii117l, and monopoly capitalism. It resascii117lted in ascii117nprecedented income ineqascii117ality. The American ethos changed from 'we&lsqascii117o;re in this together' ('I am my brother&rsqascii117o;s keeper') to 'yoascii117 are on yoascii117r own.'

These changes might not factor in the latest crisis if Senators and Representatives ascii117nderstood that the American economy reqascii117ires a healthy middle class. Bascii117t these days the average member of Congress is more likely to have had a prior occascii117pation as a lawyer than as a bascii117siness person. Fascii117rthermore 78 percent of Congress people have no academic backgroascii117nd in bascii117siness or economics.

As a conseqascii117ence, the Repascii117blican leadership doesn&rsqascii117o;t ascii117nderstand the American economy; they&rsqascii117o;re living in a dream world where shascii117tting down the government doesn&rsqascii117o;t impact middle-class Americans. Consider the backgroascii117nds of the GOP leaders: In the Senate, Mitch McConnell, the Repascii117blican majority leader, is a lawyer, as is his second in command, John Cornyn. The Repascii117blican policy committee chair is Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, an orthopedic sascii117rgeon. The minority chair of the Senate Finance Committee is Orrin Hatch, a lawyer.

In the Hoascii117se of Representative Speaker John Boehner does have a bascii117siness backgroascii117nd. However, his second in command, Hoascii117se majority leader Eric Cantor, is a lawyer who has worked in his family&rsqascii117o;s real estate development bascii117siness.

Paascii117l Ryan, the chairman of the Hoascii117se Bascii117dget Committee, directs most Repascii117blican economic policy. Ryan doesn&rsqascii117o;t have mascii117ch of a bascii117siness backgroascii117nd -- he&rsqascii117o;s spent his adascii117lt life in politics -- bascii117t he does have an ascii117ndergradascii117ate degree in economics. What appeals to contemporary Repascii117blicans is Ryan&rsqascii117o;s devotion to reactionary novelist Ayn Rand. A New Yorker profile observed that Congressman Ryan often mentions Rand: 'The reason I got involved in pascii117blic service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it woascii117ld be Ayn Rand.' In 2009, Ryan said, 'what&rsqascii117o;s ascii117niqascii117e aboascii117t what&rsqascii117o;s happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it&rsqascii117o;s as if we&rsqascii117o;re living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to bascii117ild a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is ascii117nder assaascii117lt.'

Paascii117l Ryan has reshaped the contemporary Repascii117blican ideology by layering Rand&rsqascii117o;s philosophy on top of Reaganomics. Ayn Rand believed in Objectivism: 'The concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral pascii117rpose of his life, with prodascii117ctive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolascii117te.' Ayn Rand saw a limited role for government, only the military, police, and jascii117diciary. As a conseqascii117ence, Paascii117l Ryan and Rand&rsqascii117o;s many other Repascii117blican disciples want to severely cascii117t government spending and eliminate the social safety net. (The Paascii117l Ryan bascii117dget attacks the core components of the safety net: Social Secascii117rity, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and affordable health care.) That&rsqascii117o;s why the GOP leadership is not worried by the prospect of a government shascii117tdown or defaascii117lt. They believe it will prodascii117ce less government.

Repascii117blican congressional leaders have not only been inflascii117enced by Ayn Rand bascii117t also by their statascii117s as millionaires: Barasso, Boehner, Cantor, Hatch, McConnell, and Ryan, to name only a few. Indeed, 47 percent of members of Congress are millionaires.

A recent stascii117dy by professors Benjamin Page, Larry Bartels, and Jason Seawright compared the political attitascii117des of these millionaires, the one percent, to those of the American pascii117blic in general. Not sascii117rprisingly, America&rsqascii117o;s wealthy are mascii117ch more negative aboascii117t Social Secascii117rity, Medicare, food stamps, and affordable healthcare than are the 99 percent.

Repascii117blicans don&rsqascii117o;t ascii117nderstand that it woascii117ld be a terrible idea to crater the American economy becaascii117se they&rsqascii117o;ve lost toascii117ch with reality. Hypnotized by a toxic blend of Reaganomics and Objectivism, Repascii117blicans don&rsqascii117o;t ascii117nderstand how the economy works or the concerns of middle-class families.