I’ve got to admit that I haven’t really been paying much attention to this whole “government shutdown” thing until today, but the more that I’ve started to look into it, the more I’m starting to feel more agitated and disappointed by it.
And not from the perspective of people having to go without their paychecks, which don’t get me wrong is completely horrible…
But in the grander scheme of things, what does it really say about America if we’re actually talking about shutting down major parts of our infrastructure because our great and almighty democracy couldn’t come to terms on a budget. That’s right, a nation that’s $14 TRILLION IN DEBT is just now suddenly concerned about running out of money … seriously, wtf?!?!?! Not having any money never seems to matter any other time of the year, but today we’re ready to stop the presses and put 800,000 people’s jobs on hold because we can’t decide what our budget … that we’re clearly not going to follow anyways … should be for the next fiscal year?!
Jeeesh.
Aside from the whole ridiculous budget premises in general, I think the other thing that shocked me was in reading just how significant the shutdown would be and what government agencies would be affected. National parks, including the Statue of Liberty, would all close, pretty much all of Washington DC shuts down, including basic services like garbage for the people who live there, the IRS would stop processing tax refunds (but taxes would still be due – LOL), the FCC would stop monitoring complaints, pretty much all consumer safety regulations get put on hold – the list just goes on and on. How it’s somehow “acceptable” for the majority of our government, save “public safety” and all of the wars that we’re currently in, to just screech to a halt because 500 people in Congress can’t agree on a budget is a combination of frightening, astounding, and also dumbfounding to me.
I don’t even care what the reasoning behind the debate is – if the USA wants to be deemed the most powerful nation in the world, this kind of bullshit shouldn’t happen. Ever.