Former House and Senate budget committees staffer Stan Collender, writing for Politico, has "been predicting since July that the irreconcilable differences between Democrats and Republicans on several key issues … are much more likely than not to lead to the federal government shutting down when the next fiscal year begins at midnight, Sept. 30. My most recent projection is that there is now a 75 percent chance of a shutdown."
Collender goes on to explain his 75 percent chance of gloom, but we already know why. In 2014, Republicans boldly stood before voters and barked: Elect us, give us both houses, and we'll show you how we govern.
It's the one campaign promise they're keeping.
A few weeks ago, some crackpot emailed me a lengthy and typically rambling protest about my misrepresentations of contemporary "conservatism." I didn't understand the meaning of the concept, he said, and therefore I was unqualified to write about it. I'll say with respect to a shutdown what I said to that gentleman: You call this — radicalism, extremism, and serial imprudence — conservatism?