Shutdown Means Streamlining

There are a lot of myths about the looming government shutdown. The biggest one is that it is, in fact, a government shutdown. The country will not descend into anarchy, there will not be chaos in the streets (well, no more than usual) and, really, we don’t need to panic if it happens. Here’s the deal. 

As much as the left likes to use the Military and our veterans losing pay as a scare tactic, they will not be harmed.  Our food will still be inspected and your mail will still arrive. Like it or not, entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid will still be running up our debt and you will still have that unpleasant TSA experience at the airport. “Essential” functions of the federal government will still continue.  We should look at whether or not being manhandled at the airport is essential, but I digress. 

The facts are that “non-essential” functions will temporarily cease.  This includes such items as national monuments and museums. Why do we have “non-essential” functions of government when we’re careening toward a $17 trillion national debt? It is certainly a question that needs to be asked.

Government employees affected will be furloughed. The President and Congress will still receive their paychecks, but around 800,000 employees aren’t so sure what happens to their pay.  The fact is these employees will likely be paid retroactively, however, so we won’t save any money by sending them home in the first place.

Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa has said that “I rather doubt that Congress would take punitive actions against the District of Columbia for keeping their personnel on.” This suggests that we are paying non essential employees for not doing the work that we don’t really need them to do. Way to go, government!

As the deadline looms, we’ll have to wait to find out whether or not Americans have become so addicted to big government that a few days of a partial shutdown is seen as catastophic.  Don’t believe the fear-mongering hype. Let’s take those few days instead to debate the proper role, scope and size of the federal government instead.