[Thomas Frank's] Wrecking Crew theory gives an account of why Trump didn’t do whatever he needed to do with The Wall when Republicans controlled the House, where spending bills originate. But if the goal is the shutdown, for which The Wall is a pretext, that incongruity disappears.
--Lambert Strethner of nakedcapitalism.com
1/20/19 update:
A letter writer to the Bee notes the same thing, but goes no further.
Why just shut down the government? Because the government is the medium of collective action. Only collective action can solve systemic problems, but government can also confiscate private property, so the Kochs fear it, of necessity. Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America describes the Kochs' pursuit of anti-collectivism in depth. This includes funding right-wing think tanks, and resurrecting John Calhoun's defense of slavery, the modern version provided by (Nobel Laureate!) James Buchanaan in his "Public Choice" theory. Executive summary: government solutions are always inferior to private sector solutions because of the inevitability of corruption and regulatory capture.
That's why PG&E, Enron, etc. are so uncorrupt! Yow!
Anyway, the object in shutting down the government is to discredit government. We don't need 'em!
--Lambert Strethner of nakedcapitalism.com
1/20/19 update:
A letter writer to the Bee notes the same thing, but goes no further.
Why just shut down the government? Because the government is the medium of collective action. Only collective action can solve systemic problems, but government can also confiscate private property, so the Kochs fear it, of necessity. Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America describes the Kochs' pursuit of anti-collectivism in depth. This includes funding right-wing think tanks, and resurrecting John Calhoun's defense of slavery, the modern version provided by (Nobel Laureate!) James Buchanaan in his "Public Choice" theory. Executive summary: government solutions are always inferior to private sector solutions because of the inevitability of corruption and regulatory capture.
That's why PG&E, Enron, etc. are so uncorrupt! Yow!
Anyway, the object in shutting down the government is to discredit government. We don't need 'em!
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