From Jamelle Bouie, writing about the possibility of a tea party-inspired government shutdown next month:

Compared to 1995, today's GOP is far more anti-government and far more ideological than it was under Gingrich.

For anyone who live through that era, this is hard to believe. But it's true. It's also true, as Jamelle says, that a shutdown would pretty quickly lead to real consequences for real people: "This was damaging enough in 1995, when the economy was in the middle of an unprecedented expansion. Today, with slow growth and double-digit unemployment, it would be catastrophic." Yes it would. See David Leonhardt about the austerity programs in Germany and Britain for more about that.

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Kevin Drum

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. RSS | Twitter