It’s like watching a moth circle a flame.  They can’t help themselves.  They are drawn to anything that will water down, delay, or undermine Obamacare; and so they keep circling, circling, circling, bringing the government to a halt even thought they must KNOW, deep in their heart, that this will kill their party’s political future.

For after all, these defenders of tradition, the Constitution, and the American way must know that in a democracy, the majority wins and gains the right to make the laws.  In the last election, the Democrats won the presidency; they won the Senate, and they won more votes for the House of Representatives — the Republicans only held their majority in their house because of tailored districts that multiply the weight of Republican votes and weaken that of Democrats.  Even so, a majority of the House would vote to fund the government, no strings attached.  It is just that the Republican leadership will not allow a vote on such a bill, because they would lose their leadership position.  So only bills that would get a majority of Republican votes, not House votes, will come to the floor.

Don’t they realize this is a radical rewriting of the Constitution, changing the way  the government was designed to work?  I guess not.  Still, I think the American people will understand that the rules are simple — if you lose an election, you don’t get to make the laws.  And the Republicans are not playing by the rules.  Americans, whatever else they believe, are dedicated to playing by the rules.

So the only question is — how large is the price the Republicans will pay for trying to break the rules, when they bring the government to a halt?