Our government is shutting down in exactly 10 minutes

Well, it's happening again.

The Federal Government is shutting down. Last week's shutdown is so passé now.

By the time you read this, it will be a done deal. And in case you're wondering, it was Sen. Rand Paul's intransigence that put the last nail in the coffin.

I think that the American people have grown used to this.

But it shouldn't happen.

No, I'm not doing the "both sides" thing here. Not at all.

This is one more chapter in a long story that began in 1980 but was kicked up a notch or three in October of 2013 when Republicans took advantage of the annual budget resolution to try to force drastic cuts to essential programs, especially anything that benefited working Americans. (That, by the way, is how the term sequestration worked its way into the American lexicon.)

So back in 2013 when that evil, free-spending Barack Obama was giving away everything, that was a good shutdown, right? Thank God there were principled men like Ted Cruz watching out for us back then! Ted Cruz--what a fucking joke!

What was true about budgets, spending, tax revenue and deficits while Obama was President is still true today. It's not the dollars and deficits, it's where the money goes. Spending and the red ink that can ensue is A-OK if the people and the corporations who write the big checks to reelection campaigns are benefiting; if it's those lazy welfare cheats and people on SSI and retirees who're benefiting, we don't have a dime for that kind of spending!

Now that Repugs control the executive branch and both houses of congress, they can do anything they damn well please. Because--just like in the days of King Ronnie--deficits don't matter anymore. Not at all.

Well, they don't matter if the fat cats and Koch heads get their cut!

This could get ugly. Stay tuned for more developments.



"Bulldog Ben" Basile



© 2018 Benjamin Lawrence Basile