On Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. the United States Federal government shut down.
The country woke up and panicked because the National Park System and the panda cam at the National Zoo had closed. Rep. Nancy Pelosi almost cried on the House floor when envisioning all the House staffers who would supposedly go hungry on Wednesday. It was a total meltdown.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blamed the shutdown on tea party Republicans, whom he called “anarchists.”
Anarchy? Really? According to Business Insider, 80 percent of the 4.1 million federal employees will still go to work. 500,000 postal workers will still deliver the mail. Every Social Security check will still go out on time. Taxes will still be collected and you still can’t smoke weed legally.
The GOP has dragged its heels and thrown a tantrum to defund Obamacare. But the shutdown is not an anarchical response to a bloated government or the financial repercussions of a nationalized health care system. It’s a political tactic for the Republicans to eliminate a policy that ensures Democratic electoral success and for the Democrats to demonize Republicans opposed to Obamacare.
To operate the government, Congress must pass a budget. To avoid making decisions about which parts of government to cut, the 113th Congress has passed “continuing resolutions,” which maintain spending at the same level as the previous fiscal term.
Politicians have used this tactic for months. But on Oct.1, Obamacare officially began. Now, any CR would include spending for Obamacare.
The Republican-controlled House refuses to pass a CR that appropriates spending for Obamacare. The Democratic-controlled Senate refuses to pass a CR that doesn’t fund Obamacare. We’ve reached an impasse.
With no plan for funding, by law the government must close its doors.
The problem with this government shutdown is not that World War II veterans are kept from visiting their memorial, that libraries will close, or that D.C. garbage will accumulate on the curb. The problem is that it’s not a true government shutdown. Instead of punishing programs that contribute to the debt, the shutdown punishes money-making departments that help the country. Watching veterans wheel over barricades allows both parties to blame each other. The shutdown is yet another opportunity for a political blame game.
The faux shutdown illustrates the wastefulness of our federal government. We are $16 trillion in debt, with no foreseeable stop to the spending. Yet we don’t even talk about permanently cutting nonessential government programs. Instead of shutting down Veterans Affairs, for example, we should cut the postal service—it loses money and the private industry can do the job better. We should discuss the devastating effects that Social Security will have on our generation. Nationalized healthcare could destroy this country’s last hope at economic prosperity, but so will limitless spending.
If Congress wants to fix the spending crisis, eliminating parts of government is necessary. But if we are going to shut down, let’s stop playing political games and shut down for real.
