The Lincoln Memorial. Photo: Ishaan Dalal.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” – Abraham Lincoln.

A dysfunctional Washington is a bad omen for the entire world, its timing catastrophic, well beyond the U.S., particularly to the European Continent. The European countries have only just begun the destructive process of digesting what the markets have already basically accepted, the Euro’s collapse.

When governance and responsibility is ostensibly demanded from our elected officials, petty games of politics are being displayed with such alacrity that it makes sense only inside a classroom of 10-year olds.

The ferocity of the political debate in Washington is apparently beholden to a “crazy” lobbyist, Grover Norquist, who cares more about his dogmatic conception of good and evil than to the common sense advocated by elder Republican statesmen. Consequentially, we are living in a bad B-Movie scenario where the entire country is stuck in an ongoing mental depression with no hope of cure.

Europe needs serious confidence measures to save its economic and financial disintegration and is trying hard to save a losing proposition where hundreds of millions of people might fall in an unbelievably dramatic fiscal trap. In witnessing the bellwether of democracy dysfunctional, markets are getting volatile, and by association the entire banking system becomes jittery. The European debt crisis, more than anything, needs the quiet support of the entire world to stand a chance for its survival; it’s all about confidence now since the fundamentals are all disastrous.

We are witnessing the second stage of a debilitating financial crisis, remindful of the second phase of the 1929 crisis, when the bottom fell out, and the Great Depression ensued.

Unconsciously, our leaders are repeating political suicide that emboldens the extremes both here and in Europe. In all upcoming elections, the winners will face apocalyptic fiscal conditions combined by austerity measures and declining fiscal revenues due to a lack of economic growth. Heavy unemployment will greatly overtax the delicate balance of what democracies can bear. These regretful conditions will invariably trigger serious social unrest already beginning to develop here and in Europe.

So, “Yes, stupid,” only a grassroots movement of concerned citizens can save us from  irresponsible leaders who selfishly only see their own interests before that of the people. Barring a small number, most politicians have betrayed the confidence given to them by their constituents. We are living a dramatic crisis of confidence where our democratic institutions are apparently failing to procure the common sense necessary to pull us out of this chaotic state. The silent majority wants responsible leadership and is ready to accept a tough ride only if it is legitimately and seriously planned with conscious honest politicians who can rise to the occasion to solve the most serious crisis since the 1920s.

We are presently in the process of sinking an entire generation into an abyss of fiscal and economic hell, which like in the 1930s brought us WWII, history can easily repeat itself when such paradigms are in play.