House Republicans, who refuse to raise the debt ceiling without a spending freeze, have persuaded themselves (ignoring their own economists) that defaulting on the national debt might not produce a catastrophic depression. Here, as with climate change, wishful thinking has led them to delusion. The wish that begot the thinking is the notion that reducing the size and scope of government will make us freer.
I just published a critical
history of libertarianism. The ideas that undergird Republicans’ demands are
the ones I warn about in my book: apocalyptic pessimism about government, irresponsible
vagueness about what will take its place.
The book aims to be a kind of Narcan for the many who have consumed
toxic levels of libertarian ideas. The
debt standoff shows its urgency.
I elaborate in a new column at The Hill.