“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
― Charles Bukowski
So here we are, two weeks with no government. Do you miss it yet? It all reminds me of a song- actually it reminds me of several but I’m struggling to stay focused here. What kind of world is it where stopping government means it is all over. And what makes us think that the people in charge are smart enough to fix it?
Sorry, we’re closed.
I’ve come a long way during my life. When I was a kid, the US was the bomb! Literally, but we were the good guys and WWII was proof. We beat the evil Krauts and the evil Japs, and we did it pretty much single handed because the rest of the world was either brutalized by the bad guys or too spineless to stand up. We were a free people, proud of it and proud of our country. Government was a joke.
Nobody back then expected the government to save us from anything. We could take care of ourselves. We were Americans. We didn’t win the war because of our government. We won the war because of our American spirit. We won in spite of the government. If anyone back then had threatened to shut down the government, we’d have laughed because we knew it didn’t matter. Today, shutting down the government is viewed as a disaster. We are supposed to drag our dependent asses into a corner and weep. There seem to be a few weepers out there but they all live in Washington. Who does the shutdown really hurt anyway? It’s those government workers who work daily to make us miserable.
First of all, it hurts the President. For once, the arrogant bastard feels compelled to stop using Air Force One as a campaign tool. The First Lady is confined to the White House when she really wants to be in Hollywood raising money. Somehow that seems wrong now that the government is shut down. If that is what it takes to get the First Family to put running the country ahead of raising money then I say lets keep it shut down.
Next, we have the Senate, led by whiny Harry. Our Senate refuses to compromise its position. Never mind that out Constitution was designed to require compromise so that a majority doesn’t run roughshod over us all. Whiny Harry is a dictator who will only consider legislation that conforms precisely to his demands. We used to complaint about those smoke filled rooms in Washington- the ones where the deals were struck that greased the wheels of government as it ground through all the red tape. Heck I say bring back those smoke filled rooms and cut some deals!
Now we are supposed to believe that the Senate is our guardian and we shouldn’t question the morality and principles- let alone the patriotism of Harry and his minions. The fact that one man has that control over what the government can even consider is in itself un-American. Aren’t there supposed to be 50 Senators? How am I represented when the only opinion that matters is a smarmy Nevadan?
Finally there is the House where there is much discussion and controversy. Once in a while they get their act together and stand for something. Obamacare is a train wreck unfolding before our eyes, It was legislated by slight of hand in the dark and managed by fools and knaves. Sensible people- meaning those not in the government think it would be smart to pause before rushing over the cliff. Let’s at least talk about it. Let’s take a look at the ingredients before they go into the sausage machine. By some miracle, the House took a stand in the hope that someone in the country would notice and so we have the government shut down. It wasn’t easy to stand for principle however and even harder to take the heat. It appears that the House was exhausted by their actions and are ready to throw principles under the bus ans cave because nobody loves them.
I know that I don’t have the answer to taking us back to the country I grew up in- the country where we didn’t need government permission to visit our War Memorials and parks. Bring back the days when we laughed at Washington because it didn’t have the power to ruin your life and we knew that politicians were some subspecies of humanity that was best kept busy doing something unimportant. Now they tell us what is important and strangely we find that it is government.
I fully expect the House to cave in panic because people might actually believe that they stand for something. I fear that whiny Harry will hold fast as the country spends its way over the fiscal cliff and free Americans lose control of their health care. It’s what they do in Washington. And the most terrible thing about that is that our politicians are so stupid that they really believe what they are doing is right. Fixing this mess is so difficult that smart people would never consider running for office.
