Why Politicians Are Afraid Of A Shutdown
by Big Dog on Apr 8, 2011 at 04:55 Political
The Democrats dropped the ball, punted, kicked the can down the road, or any other cliche’ you want to use describing ignoring an issue, on the federal budget. Charlie Rangel said they just didn’t get to it. Maybe they didn’t get to it because they took so much time off to campaign. Maybe it was because they were worried about passing a budget prior to a big election. Who knows but the absolute certainty is that the Democrats were negligent in their duty when they did not pass the budget.
Is is also an absolute certainty that if they had passed a budget we would not be nearing a government shutdown.
Democrats believe that a shutdown would benefit them politically and at least one Republican believes Obama planned this out last year to help him with his reelection. Republicans believe it would benefit them politically and it probably would since Democrats caused it.
But neither party wants the government to shutdown because of something not related to whom would benefit politically. Members from both parties (particularly Democrats) do not want the government to shut down because people would see how little their lives changed because of it. Essential services will continue despite what we have been told. The non essential services would stop and about 800,000 federal employees would be furloughed until a budget passes. This has happened in the past (a number of times) and old people did not die in the streets, they were not forced to eat cat food, and airplanes were able to land with the assistance of air traffic controllers. People were no worse off when the shutdown ended than they were when it began.
In times past that fact went unnoticed and people went back to their old ways. With the majority of the public demanding spending cuts and common sense it is likely that many more will make the point that they were not harmed by any shutdown. They were able to live their lives without the nanny state.
And this has politicians scared. Democrats depend on a voting base that lives off the government or benefits from one government program or another. LBJ enslaved the blacks with his Great Society and they have been dependent on the government ever since. They have also been a reliable voting block just as Johnson said they would (though he used rather racist terms to describe it).
If people finally wake up and realize that life did not end when government stopped working the politicians will be hard pressed to explain why some gee whiz program needs to pass (it will undoubtedly be for the children). People will know that they can get along just fine without the nanny state.
All non essential employees will be furloughed and those who are essential will work and eventually be paid. One thing that is unbelievable is that the government would allow the members of our armed forces to go unpaid. The Republicans introduced and passed legislation in the House that would guarantee that members of our armed forces get paid no matter what. Obama said he would veto it and that it is nothing more than a distraction.
The Commander in Chief of the armed forces would veto a bill that continues pay for the troops and then calls such a bill a distraction. Someone tell me again how it is the Democrats can claim to support the troops when this kind of crap goes on. If the troops are non essential then let’s get them on planes and get them home.
The reality is that the bullets, IEDs, rockets, missiles and the enemy will continue to pose threats to our troops regardless of the budget situation. The wars don’t stop just because there is no budget.
Amazingly, Obama and all the members of Congress will get paychecks. Perhaps we should designate the people who protect Obama everyday as non essential and let him fend for himself.
Don’t worry though. Even with a shutdown Obama and his family will be able to take a mini vacation.
Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
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Tags: furlough, lies, malfeasance, Military, negligence, Obama, shutdown
I agree that the people who protect Obama, (and of course, all 16 of Michelle’s “staff”) should be viewed as “non-essential.
Joe Biden is the best protection a man could have- after all, would you shoot the president , just so Unca’ Joe could slide into the Oval Office? I think not- hairplugs are NOT a sign of a statesman.
BTW- Any “Commander-in Chief” who would allow his troops to go unpaid, should be removed from office- for “Conduct unbecoming of an Officer.”
It’s spooky how history is repeating itself.
Here is a very interesting mp3 of NPR reporting in 1995 right after the shutdown started. We had Clinton veto a last minute stopgap measure because of a disagreement and Gingrich suggesting both sides would suffer when we know the GOP suffered the most.
I’m sure Obama’s approval will drop like Clinton’s did during a shutdown but we won’t know if it will bounce back up even higher like Clinton’s did eventually.
We won’t know now but the difference between now and 95 is that Clinton was calling for a balanced budget and the people were on his side. In this case the Republicans are calling for the cuts and balancing the budget and Obama is not. The people want it so they would likely be on the side of the Republicans.
I can tell you this, if they had shut down the Dems and Obama would have been in deep stuff for not passing the CR that would fund the military for the rest of the FY and extend the time a week to work it out.
The House (mostly Republicans) passed the measure, the Senate (Democrat controlled) did not take it up and Obama said he would veto it.
The onus for our troops not getting paid would have been on them and they knew it. They would not have survived that.
Clearly neither side wanted to play games with the stopgap there at the end. It will be interesting to see how it plays out when the stopgap comes to an end. Or they may just pass something with plenty of time with no drama.
A government shutdown might be something beneficial for the people and the nation after all and a disadvantage to the politicians. Imagine how much can be saved if the salaries of “non-essential” staff and employees of these politicians are cut. The country doesn’t have to struggle on a meager budget if the people can do without the “non-essentials.”