When I was in elementary school in the mid-1960s, in about third grade, on the South Side of Chicago, we used to walk home for lunch each day, there being no cafeteria at school.
One day, a classmate of mine, Joel, returned after lunch distraught and in tears. His brother, who was probably in seventh or eighth grade at the time, had decided to perform an experiment at lunch. In the family basement, he secured a bullet, probably a 22 or a 38, into a vise on his dad's workbench. He wanted to see what would happen if he drilled a hole into the bullet using an electric drill.
The result? He blew off all of his right thumb and most of the index finger on that hand. . Hence, Joel's tears.
The thumb, that opposing digit, that miracle of engineering that is part of what makes us humans human. That and our big brains.
Anyway, perhaps Joel's brother could be excused in his ignorance for have attempting something so foolhardy. After all, he was just a kid. A curious kid. We could have a debate on another day about the wisdom of his parents leaving bullets around with such easy access to their kids. Certainly, part of such a debate might involve arguing about the appropriate levels of adult supervision and about locking up dangerous things.
The point of sharing this anecdote is to draw a comparison with the Republican-held US House of Representatives. One would hope that they would have more sense than Joel's brother and wouldn't need to actually drill a hole into our already fragile economy just to see what would happen if we don't raise the debt ceiling. Yet, see how many of them are already making the claim that a default isn't a big deal.
Apparently, the only way these folks will learn what will happen is by blowing their own proverbial fingers off. Unfortunately, it will be all of us left in tears should they be so foolish as to go that far.
Are there enough adults in the House to put an end to the dangerous behavior of the Tea Party extremists who are currently controlling the agenda? Does John Boehner have it in him to act like a leader for a change and to be the adult in the room? Do enough of the large number of timid members of his caucus who think the current impasse is an act of insanity have it in them to stand up and call a halt to this before we all get hurt?
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