Uh Oh, BoBo, That's A No-No

NYT:

[T]he Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative… The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it. The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor. The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor. But to members of this movement, tax levels are everything. [They] have taken a small piece of economic policy and turned it into a sacred fixation. They are willing to cut education and research to preserve tax expenditures. Manufacturing employment is cratering even as output rises, but members of this movement somehow believe such problems can be addressed so long as they continue to worship their idol… The struggles of the next few weeks are about what sort of party the G.O.P. is -- a normal conservative party or an odd protest movement that has separated itself from normal governance, the normal rules of evidence and the ancient habits of our nation. If the debt ceiling talks fail… voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not… [that] Republican fanaticism caused this default… that Republicans are not fit to govern. And they will be right.

Of course, Brooks neglects to mention that tax-cutting also serves the anti-government ideology that would "Starve the Beast." Some Republicans of the more libertopian persuasion would regard it as a badge of honor to be described as "not fit to govern." That is more than a screwy economic theory, it is a profoundly dangerous feudal authoritarian political vision. Bad as Brooks says it is in today's GOP, and that would be bad enough, the truth about "the movement" he decries is much worse.