Forget the Tea Party Republicans who, according to President Barack Obama, are holding the government hostage and the economy for a ransom. According to MSNBC’s “All In” host Chris Hayes, the government shutdown is all the Constitution’s fault.
Hayes took a stab at exploring just who to attribute the government shutdown to, which heads into its ninth day. While Democrats place the blame on Republicans at the American people’s expense, though, Hayes turned toward the Founding Fathers, telling viewers it was their lack of foresight that led to the Congressional gridlock.
“[The shutdown] is exposing the fatal flaw in our Constitution and highly distinct system of government,” Hayes said. “In other words, it’s the Constitution’s fault, as something truly catastrophic was bound to happen sooner or later.”
The MSNBC host cited the opinions of “highly astute” political analysts, which, according to him, include writers at The Washington Post, Slate and New York magazine, who view the shutdown as the catalyst before a “full-blown constitutional crisis.”
He goes on to note that government shutdowns are rare — if not impossible — elsewhere in the world because of the parliamentary systems of government employed by countries abroad, which largely leave one political party in power.
“But thanks to the quirks of our U.S. Constitution, which makes it possible for different branches of government to be controlled by different parties, each party during one of these standoffs that we’re seeing right now can plausibly claim that they’re the ones that represent the will of the people.”
Hayes did credit the Founding Fathers with one success, as he noted that the system of checks and balances implemented by the U.S. Constitution led to compromises such as the Civil Rights Act of 1957, signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress, and the major tax cuts enacted under President Ronald Reagan and pushed by Southern Democrats in the House.
But that’s not the case today, Hayes said, and it puts the Constitution’s functionality in doubt.
“The question is, can our Constitutional system function with the modern GOP?” he asked.
Check out Hayes’ segment below.
