Shutting It Down? Really?

As I write this, the US Government is on the verge of a shut down because Congress is playing games with our money and our lives and would rather engage in pointless fighting than pass legislation that would continue to fund the US Government.  They’d rather shut it down than work out a compromise.

And I am pissed!!

Some random rants and observations:

A shutdown means ‘Non-essential’ personnel don’t work till this is resolved, many/most Government offices and facilities will close, including National Parks and the Smithsonian Museums.  Military personnel will continue to work but they might not get a pay check for awhile.  Are you kidding me?

Here is a slightly better explanation of what could happen at midnight, quoted from CNN … Without congressional approval of new spending legislation, parts of the federal government will begin shutting down when the current fiscal year ends at midnight, forcing agencies to furlough thousands of workers and curtail some services until there is a resolution.

The non-essential employees don’t get paid while this is going on BUT CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT DO GET PAID.  So they have nothing to lose by playing this dangerous game.

The Cowards of Congress are busy bending to the extremes.  Spineless!  Republican leaders are scared of the completely misguided extremist Tea Party idiots.  The Tea Party people do not represent Republican ideals of normal, majority moderate Republicans.  Stubborn Liberals on the other end are also extreme and do not represent moderate Democrats like me.  Most Americans are in the middle.  Most UNbiased surveys verify that.

Conservative Republicans whine about ‘big government’ yet Repub Senator What’s-his-name from Texas held the floor for 21 hours one day last week. He rambled for TWENTY ONE FREAKIN’ HOURS, wasting time reading Dr. Seuss and other nonsense that had nothing to do with making his points.  And We the People PAY FOR THAT CRAP?!?!  Aren’t we HIS BOSS?  Why aren’t we firing him and anyone else who violates the serious mission we elect Senators and Representatives to do? 

It’s time for term limits!  Congress should not be a career.  We elect those people to serve US.  Our Presidents serve a maximum of eight years; why should law-makers serve longer?  Or till death?

Hey, Tea Party people … the Affordable Care Act was passed two years ago and is already law.  Deal with it.  Quit playing games with our lives and our money by throwing up mindless obstacles, risking the negative impact of a shut-down government to accomplish a misguided goal.  The law will continue.  It will be funded.  Quite wasting our time and money and sanity.  Work on something else like tax reform.

Republicans keep adding amendments to the funding bill, amendments that would defund the affordable healthcare act, better known as Obamacare.  Hey, like I said, the law is already law.  Stop playing games.

I had a great conversation with a former Republican Representative from Virginia recently at an awards ceremony.  He said Congress is broken and that is why he chose to not run again.  During his years in Congress he was known for realistic compromise.  He listened to his constituents more than to the extremes of his party.  That is how it should work.

There were two shutdowns in 1995.  It cost taxpayers an estimate $1.2 BILLION.

If the government shuts down at Midnight, more than a million Federal worker will be affected, with no promise of back pay.  Social Security and veteran benefit checks will still go out but might be delayed because there will be fewer people processing them; people who depend on those checks are the ones who can least afford that kind of delay.

Yet Congress continues to get paid, as I said before.  Democratic Representative Gary Peters from Michigan says he will not take his pay if the government shuts down and if he gets back pay he’ll donate it to local charities.  A good example.  ALL Senators and Representatives AND the President and VP should follow that example.

Our democratic system is built on compromise.  That is at the heart of our success as a country and as a society.  We don’t always agree but we do find a way to make it all work.  Usually.  But tonight there are loud extremists who don’t give a shit about any of that.  All they want is to position themselves as candidates for future office.  No Tea Party jerk will ever become President.  We the People are not that stupid.

Work together Congress!!  Do what we are paying you to do.

I am an angry 50-plus American citizen, a registered voter and I vote in EVERY election!  I am not alone. Senate, Congress, what you do in the next two hours will make a lot of difference to me.  And I have a long memory.  Do the right thing.