The shutdown of our Federal government over the so-called Obamacare has left many newscasters asking "Who's to blame?" Their question is, of course, only a ploy for ratings but it is a question that they have only offered a couple of answers to, The President, The GOP, or the Democrats. Unfortunately the answer to this question is none of the above. While it is true that each has a part to play in all this mess, we must press past the superficial if we want to see who is really to blame (although that begs the question of why we are playing the blame game instead of blowing up our congressmen and women's mailboxes and emails with action demands). While the President's ultimatum and the GOP/Democrats unwillingness to yield and compromise is certainly a blame worthy offense, it is we who are to blame. Study after study shows that the typical voter doesn't vote their Senator or Representative in based on their platform or even their personal beliefs, but is directly related to how much money is spent on a campaign. More often than not we vote based on fundraising rather than true representation of what we as Americans believe. It is a despicable and ignorant way of choosing those who will directly change the very landscape of America and her policies, and we know this so we cast blame on those we the people elected. It is, to some small degree their fault but ultimately the blame lies directly on us the voters for caring more about the glitz and glamour of a politician rather than their actual policies and beliefs. If we are to cast blame, we must cast it to those who truly deserve it, ourselves. Now get out there and stop this mess by calling, writing, faxing, emailing, etc. your congressman or woman and if you don't, then take what you deserve without complaining. Those who fail to act forfeit their right to complain. What do you think?
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Is a government shutdown really that bad? Doesn't the gov't shutdown for Christmas, Spring break, re-election, etc.? During gov't shutdowns many gov't functions continue: SS# checks still go out, the Military still protects us, our borders are still protected. . . All this talk about the shutdown is a "Red Herring." The politicians don't want us to discover that sometimes a so-called Government Shutdown isn't really a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteShutdowns for a couple of days are relatively minor in their effect. The current shutdown is not expected to end soon, however and the shutdowns talked about in your posts are not the same as this one. While it is true essential functions will continue they only have a finite amount of time that the trusts they are funded by (or the mandatory spending laws) run out of money. At that juncture they will shutdown in a very real way. A red herring, by the way is an argument used to distract us from the real argument, not a cover-up. Temporary and limited shutdowns happen all the time, this is not a limited shutdown, however IF it is a temporary one, it will not cause noticeable damage beyond not going to the monuments and parks. Shutdowns longer than 1 week, however, will cause noticeable damage due to the further reaching effects on the stability of the stock market (unlike planned shutdowns such as the holidays mentioned) and the faith in our government to perform. Longer than 2 weeks and noticeable effects direct from the shutdown will take place. Bear in ind also, veterans benefits have been delayed and many live paycheck to paycheck so this shutdown has already taken a toll to some extent. People may be overreacting, however any unplanned shutdown will have negative effects, even if it is just in the faith of the people in their government. Finally, remember the economy is only barely in recovery, any extended shutdown (>2-3 days) could plunge us back into recession. Yes the government "shutsdown" regularly but those are expected and planned for, this is neither and could, if it continues for any good length of time, have longer-reaching effects than may be noticeable at first glance. If it is, as it probably will be, a brief shutdown then very little will happen because of it beyond a dip in faith in congress, though that has probably already occurred. It is not a red herring, though.
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