Let me try to recap just what has been accomplished. No
reductions in spending were made to the budget, Obamacare remains fully funded
(even though the odds of being able to sign up are something akin to winning
the lottery), those who suffered furlough during the “shutdown” will all
receive back pay, and the government is free to continue borrowing. Unless I
have missed something, nothing has been accomplished, and those furloughed have
had a nice unscheduled, paid vacation – at our expense.
Okay, that’s sad, but the real tragedy is that the
government gets to do this all over again at the beginning of next year. Obama
likes to use the term “kicking the can down the road.” Well our can has been
kicked, my friends. How does it feel?
The lamestream media are busy pointing fingers. The tax and spend liberals are declaring victory, the Tea Party Republicans are saying they made their point, and the “moderates” on both sides of the isle are taking credit for defusing the standoff.
While I
whole-heartedly applaud the goal of conservative Republicans to reduce the size
of government and the budget, their tactics and timing were just not right this
time. Sure, they made their point. Shut down the government and people will see
that we don’t really need huge portions of it. But did that happen?
Actually, the government didn’t even come close to grinding to a halt. The Obama administration made sure only the high-profile services were closed, but most paychecks went out and the “entitlements” were paid. The Military, NAS, CIA, FBI, Justice Department, and congress were all on duty, albeit without some of the civilian contractors. Were the Department of Energy and Department of Education shut down? Both are a prime example of two departments we easily close with no negative impact.
Despite the predictions in the media of massive catastrophic
times with the government closed, there were only slight inconveniences to most
of the population. Sure, some government workers (mostly non-union) were
temporarily out of work. But even these people will get their pay.
Media pundits and politicians all decried the inability of radical wings of each party to negotiate a suitable end to the shutdown. Nonsense! From the beginning, the congressional Republicans – including the Tea Party members – all agreed to fund the budget and keep the government open. They only wanted to exclude funding for the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare) for one year. Although congress couldn’t predict the debacle with on-line sign up, it now appears that delaying the start for a year might have been a wise move. It may take that long to work the bugs out of the untested software.
As for political “moderates”, these are the ones setting on
the fence waiting for a wind strong enough to blow them to one side of the
other. They have no convictions or are willing to sell them out for the right
price. It is not the radical wings of the political parties that make our
government a jumbled mess. It is the moderates that are willing to sell their
very souls for the right price that has allowed our government to balloon up to
unnecessary proportions.
