Here We Go Again
Another March, another shutdown looms.
I am not sure how the rest of the World feels but I am getting a little tired of this crisis warning that seems to happen every two months. Without some compromises, the government will be forced to shut down some branches until Congress can figure out a way to start funding them again.
Let’s take a look at who is losing funding:
The Department of Energy. No loss there. What do they even do? Write reports on climate change and how fossil fuels are destroying the planet and the end of the World as we know is clearly a few months away. Ok, see ya.
The Department of Agriculture. Hmm. Don’t see how that will affect 98% of the population of this country. Sure the farmers who feed us will have to go with all of the subsidies they have been receiving and maybe some genetically modified seeds may get released without approval and farmers will be able to produce even better yields with less water.
The Department of Transportation. This one is simple. They provide funding for highway improvement projects and are tasked with distributing the over one trillion dollar infrastructure bill. Let’s be honest here. When was this monstrosity passed into law? Last year, two years ago? It has not trickled down to any part of New York that I have seen. The roads were in better shape and maintenance was being performed everywhere before this inflation causing bill was passed. Where is all that money? The Department of Transportation is the poster child for expensive, useless government and having a turtle for a Secretary of Transportation does not help. Pete Buttigieg should have been impeached way before Homeland Security boss Mayorkas. Shut it down and don’t reopen it. It has always been the biggest pork barrel department in the US Government. Talk about corruption!
Housing and Urban Development? Shut it down and save 70 billion dollars. The only part of HUD’s solar system that is important is their connection to construction of military housing which makes zero sense but that can be folded over to the Defense Department where it belongs.
Where politicians work their magic is pulling at the heartstrings with constituents. The money that will be held back from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs is where they have got me. If they ( those Wizards of Washington) don’t come up with some sort of compromise by Friday, a significant amount of funding for this department will be cut off. VA hospitals will have to cut back on staff and all of the outreach programs for Vets will be shut down. This is where I will draw the line.
The bigger picture on this funding for the government is complex for sure and there are cases to be made on both sides of the aisle. Careers are made and lost on these types of negotiations but holding up money for our Veterans so you can spend billions supporting whatever hotspot there is out there is not right.
There are some things that are untouchable as far as the US Government is concerned and taking care of our Veterans should be right at the top of that list.
I do know that none of this is directly tied to the Department of Veterans Affairs but that department should always be kept out of any negotiation. Period.
So the dancing clowns in Washington are doing all their backroom deals to get this thing put in and that thing taken out and they, once again, look like self serving fools.
You have to wonder how politicians rank right above Serial Killers and Mexican drug lords on the trust scale. They should be lower.
The news is all over this once again but this one is a little different. While they fight to get more or less money to Ukraine or Israel, these useless departments hang in the balance. I say, screw em. Don’t fund Pete Buttigieg. Let’s see if he can get a real job. Screw HUD. To Hell with the DOE and the DOA.
While I am obviously holding some tongue in cheek here my point is simple: The government has gotten too big, too unwieldy and serves too many masters and none of those masters are the citizens of this country.
Economists will come back and say that if you cut back on all these different components of the US Government, the country would go into an economic tailspin. We have relied on the Government and it’s massive spending capabilities for a very long time. Weaning America off of this will cause an economic collapse. I say BS to all that.
It is time to cut back our dependence on the US Government. There are a few things that the US Government does well and that should be left alone. Obviously it is the defense of this country that should be priority number one. Our armed forces may be expensive but that is the cost of doing business in an environment where not everyone is your ally.
You don’t think the private sector could do a better job at a lot of the functions the government does now? Profits are always the strongest motivator and it would be a major shift in dynamics and power in this country but at the end of the day, less government is better government.
We all know this will never happen simply because politicians control the purse strings and with that control comes power and if there is one thing every politician strives for is power. They have it, they don’t want to give it up.
Obviously, I am a conservative Republican in my beliefs. I almost lean towards being a Libertarian at times but I am also a realist. I have to pull myself back from going down that dark rabbit hole of anti big government rhetoric and know that you have to deal with what we have, an imperfect government struggling between doing what is right and doing what helps them the most. If they ever get it right, I will be the first one to acknowledge it but rest assured I won’t hesitate to highlight the stupidity as well.