Every time we come to the brink of yet another federal funding crisis, the potential of a “government shutdown” looms. Like things that go bump in the night, we are aroused to heights of unreasonable anticipation and Draconian fears. Imagine … our armies sitting around the barracks, airport control towers vacant, no social security checks, national parks and monuments closed, no more border security, no one to answer the emergency call buttons at the Veterans’ hospitals and all those thousands of federal office buildings looking like scenes from the apocalyptic television series “Life After People.”
Weeeell, fear not. All these threats of shutting down the government and what will happen is all pure politics – in other words, malarkey. It is Kabuki theater being played out as if it was real.
Placing blame for shutting down the government is more important than actually shutting it down or keeping it running. (And which of those options best serves the public interest is, itself, worthy of debate.) For weeks in advance of the deadline, both sides are hard selling their standard accusations that the other side is at fault. Since it takes two sides to agree or not to agree to keep our federal government operating or not, logic would say it is a shared responsibility.
The public, the media and the politicians need to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. Therefore, it is the Democrats’ fault for not giving Trump his wall or it is Trump’s fault for wanting it. Both sides are pouting and promising not to give an inch – or in this case, a thousand miles of concrete. Rest assured, there will be a compromise – and then BOTH sides will declare victory.
To make the other side look bad, both sides conjure up visions of the results of a so-called “government shutdown.” So-called? Yes, so-called. That is because the shutdown will not impact all the essential services – not even a day off for those folks.
If you recall … during that shut down under President Obama, he specifically ordered the Washington monuments to be roped off to create an unnecessary photo op and frustrate a lot of tourists. Those monuments would have been accessible had White House not closed them. That is called game playing.
If the government should be shut down, the vast majority of America will not even know the difference. It will only involve “non-essential” workers. And if soooo many people are NOT essential, why do we need them in the first place. Of course, we know that our federal bureaucracy is bloated with a lot of non-essential workers even then the government is in full operation.
If this pending shutdown is like those in the past, there will be a quick resolution – maybe on the eve of the shutdown or within a couple of days afterward. Virtually no one will feel the impact.
So, while all the politicians are posing in front of the cameras and posturing for a political position – warning us of the dreaded shutdown — we the people should just take in a movie. The melodrama on the screen will be much more entertaining than the just-as-fictional drama on the news channels.
So, there ‘tis.
