Why do I ask this question? Well, let's consider the following.
18 USC § 2384 - Seditious conspiracy: If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, ***or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States***, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.(1)
The Cruz/Tea Party government shutdown and threatened default were performed, according to the instigators, to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of a standing law of the United States, the ACA.
The actions of Ted Cruz, the Tea Party, and their Republican supporters in Congress have done incredible harm to this Nation: "The two-week shutdown has trimmed about 0.3 percentage point from fourth-quarter growth, or about $12 billion, the forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, based in St. Louis, recently estimated. Standard & Poor’s is more pessimistic, estimating that the shutdown will cut about 0.6 percent off inflation-adjusted gross domestic product, equivalent to $24 billion. Most analysts are predicting that growth will remain subpar, at an annual pace of 2 percent or less."(2)
Furthermore, the actions of Ted Cruz, the Tea Party, and their Republican supporters in Congress have negatively affected economic growth: "The unusually rapid pace of deficit reduction, concentrated on goods and services the government delivers, has had a further damping effect on growth, swamping the cost of the relatively brief shutdown, economists said. Macroeconomic Advisers estimated the impact at about 0.7 percentage points of G.D.P. a year, equivalent to over $300 billion in lost output over the last three years. Additional cuts would slow the economy even more, economists say." (2)
It's about time Americans wake up to the damage a small group of radicals is doing to our country.
(1) http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2384
(2) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/business/economy/high-cost-to-the-economy-from-the-fiscal-impasse.html?_r=0
