Any number of grandstanding D.C. types have now magnanimously declared that they will not accept those portions of their $174,000 salaries that might come during a possible government shutdown. The question is why they get paid the rest of the time.
If Congress had passed an actual FY 2014 budget back in the spring like they were supposed to, the federal government would not be on the verge of losing its spending authority. If Congress could manage its finances like you and I have to do, it would not be desperately seeking yet another increase in the phony “debt ceiling,” which is not a ceiling at all but merely an occasion to schedule another vote to raise said “ceiling.”
If you can get paid for perpetrating this kind of fraud on a regular basis, you are no hero for eschewing a paycheck when you spend a few days tripping over your own dereliction of duty.
That said, shut the thing down.
Lefties shriek that we just don’t realize how many essential things the government does. They inspect the meat! They control the air traffic! They fix the highways! They control disease! You don’t want to do without any of that, do you?
Well.
The meat that’s bright pink is the meat you want to buy. When the pinkish hue is getting a little dull, be careful. Usually you don’t want to go for the one with the “special price” because that means it’s a day or two from getting thrown out. No air traffic controllers? Drive your car. Although, with the TSA presumably taking the day off too, there might never be a better time to fly. You make the call. The highways? If no one’s going to be working on them for a few days, do you think they could move those cones off to the side? Then again, we could just do it ourselves. I’ll volunteer. Disease? Well, if you get caught up in an epidemic while they’re sitting at home, don’t go around touching people – especially to pick their pockets. That’ll be Congress’s job when all this is over.
Oh, and by the way, if the NSA isn’t going to be reading our e-mails for awhile, I need to send out some of that subversive propaganda I’ve been hanging onto. Did you know lower tax rates can actually generate higher revenues? Shh. They could be listening!
But . . . what about people who need their checks???? Ah. So you need money. There are better ways to get it. Find one.
Yes, it’s true that we rely on the federal government to do many things. But it’s also true that in many cases we would be better off if we did not, and necessity is the mother of invention. If the most inefficient, political, self-serving institution has been providing you with bread since long before anyone can remember, and then one day the institution grinds to a halt . . . flour, yeast, hey Bob, I think we’ve got something here! Add a little oil and you can make pizza dough! Why were we paying those people?
Exactly.
Oh, and if the federal government shuts down the very day ObamaCare is supposed to start? Bonus.
The worst thing about a prospective government shutdown is that Congress will apparently still show up. Actually that’s the second-worst thing. The worst thing is that the mainstream media will also show up and tell us daily of the horrors of life without the vaunted servants of Washington to meet our needs, keep us well and tuck us into bed. Oh, and leak national security secrets to them for front-page exclusives.
What champs these people are for not taking paychecks during whatever small respite the nation might receive from the benevolent wonder that is governance by Washington. Such a pity it will probably not last.
