NEW YORK ¨C In any negotiation, it is inadvisable to make threats that aren¡¯t credible. Probably the only thing worse is to threaten actions that will end up helping the other side. Yet the tea party-affiliated House Republicans aren¡¯t simply making this very mistake with the government shutdown; they are gearing up to do it again, on a grander and more fatal scale, with the debt ceiling.

Much as Arthur Scargill, leader of the U.K.¡¯s National Union of Mineworkers, did in the 1980s, the tea party today appears to have a political death wish. Scargill ended up giving Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher exactly what she wanted ¡ª a protracted confrontation in which he came across as an extremist, eroding any popular support for the miners. Scargill got a great deal of national attention, but the miners ended up with very little, if anything. They had some legitimate grievances, but their attempt to force a democratic government into full capitulation didn¡¯t play well. In the end, the miners were a minority of a minority (unionized workers). Their demands were perceived as extreme and extremely unreasonable. Tea party Republicans seem determined to head the same way.

The government shutdown has become a farce. Late last week, House Republicans supported a measure that promises full back pay to all government employees once funding is officially restored. President Barack Obama accepted this deal with alacrity (though it hasn¡¯t passed the Senate), so now the government and its services are shut down, without any likely cost savings. This is a strategy of pure pointless irritation and self-inflicted international humiliation. It also worsens the budget deficit.