With the Boehner debt ceiling plan having failed to bring conservative Republicans on board and commentators everywhere predicting some serious market consequences, it looks like the final hours of the debt ceiling debacle are coming down to a contest between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Tea Party ringleader Senator Mike Lee (R-UT).
Both Mormon. Reid, it’s reported, is positioning himself to offer the last, best, and only option for avoiding default, while Lee is expected to insist on a balanced budget amendment all the way to the finish.
And with the possibility of a default on the US’s Constitutional obligations to pay its debts before us, my bleary eyes are seeing the outlines of a White Horse Prophecy scenario.
The White Horse Prophecy is a Mormon legend that predicts that in the last days the US Constitution will “hang by a thread” and be saved by a righteous contingent from the American West.
Lee appealed to this legend and its legacy when he ran for Senate in 2010 as a protector and restorer of the “Constitution.”
But now he’s using the Constitution not as the foundation for good government but as a weapon in a partisan, ideological effort to hobble and dismantle the state.
This weekend, in an epic Mo-down showdown, I’m betting on Harry Reid.
