The second worst thing about federal government âshutdownsâ is that theyâre almost entirely meaningless theatrical productions â tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing â from beginning to end.
The worst thing about such âshutdownsâ is that they end, usually in a way that undoes most of what little good they accomplished in the first place.
Iâm writing this on the first (and for all I know, the last) morning of the latest such âshutdown.â It comes after a fight over a temporary spending bill that, had it passed, would have given congressional Republicans and Democrats a few more weeks to fight over spending in the longer term.
Maybe this âshutdownâ will last a day. Maybe it will last a week. Iâm guessing it will be a short one. Unlike some, itâs not based on a conflict between a Congress of one party and a president of the other party, but rather simply on the inability of Mitch McConnell to whip a few Republican senators into line.
The real effects of the âshutdown,â such as they are, will kick in Monday when ânon-essentialâ federal government activities stop happening and the government workers associated with those activities go home on (supposedly) unpaid furlough.
Some government inspectors will temporarily stop descending on factories and other workplaces to tick off boxes on forms.
The National Park Service will hang up âclosedâ signs at gatehouses around the country.
About half of the 800,000 civilian workers at the Pentagon will stop pushing the paper that moves money from your bank accounts to the bottom lines of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Some of those who do keep working wonât be paid until the curtain falls on this particular performance of the recurring âshutdownâ play.
Those effects will end when 51 U.S. senators pronounce themselves happy enough with the spending deal to flip the switch back to âon,â and a majority of the House of Representatives quickly agrees that the Senate bill is close enough (for government work) to the one the House already passed.
When itâs over, all those government employees will go back to work. And if history is an indicator, theyâll all get paid for the time they were off. And as usual, few people will ask the big question:
If all those activities that got âshut downâ were ânon-essential,â why are they government activities in the first place?
The case for government is, usually, that it does things that must be done and that canât be done by any other organization. Designating an activity ânon-essentialâ is just another way of saying itâs a way of wasting money on something either unnecessary or better left to the market.
This, too, shall pass. Unfortunately.
One wonders if the real reason the police hire tattooed people to be cops is because no moral American would ever want to help the elites run a police state by enforcing unconstitutional laws.
Libertarian
boosted
Four years ago I awoke on a Sunday morning where I was visiting family, a ray of light coming through the window. The window view showed side-by-side symbols; one of liberty, as represented by a small community of multi-colored and multi-shaped living structures with residents going about their business oblivious to the second symbol, represented by large, gray, ugly, windowless government buildings spying on and recording everyoneâs communication. The contrast of liberty and totalitarian intent was startling and breathtaking. I was in Bluffdale, Utah viewing the NSAâs top spy facility in the world named the Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center.
To the far left of the window view was a new housing development intruding into largely undeveloped land, like an extending finger, with brown hills above it and a large hay farm in front and below stretching far forward and to the right of my view. Here residents made choices that enhanced the quality and comfort of their lives largely free from total government spying and restriction â or so they thought.
The number of churches to the population seemed unusually high, five church steeples reaching skyward, as if begging for the influence of God in their community, in what looked to be no more than 300 structures, mostly apartments, as seen from my window â all within a mile of where I was. I attended one of the churches and was greeted with the opening song âAmerica the Beautiful,â the classic patriotic tune words written by Katherine Lee Bates and music by Samuel A. Ward. It housed the favorite words âAmerica! America!â followed by four phrases in four verses âGod shed his grace on thee,â and, âGod mend thine every flaw,â and, âMay God thy gold refine,â and again, âGod shed his grace on thee.â Obviously, these Christians loved their liberty. A similar tune representing a relationship between God, country and liberty could have been found throughout most of the country the Sunday before the 4th of July.
In stark contrast, off in the distance about two miles but still clearly visible from the left side of the same window, was the most profound symbol of big government ever â the new NSA spy center, the largest in the world, capable of holding a yottabyte of information collected from every person on earth, with space enough for generations to come. These enormous, ugly, gray, windowless, buildings perched on a hill with intimidating guard-houses restricting entrance, represented potential total control of the actions and thoughts of every human.
Much was published on NSA government spying of its own people including LibertyUnderFire.org columns, so nothing new is found in this one. A project began under George W. Bush and accelerated under Barack Obama, Bluffdale âis the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade and a half. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the worldâs communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks⦠Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trailsâparking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital âpocket litterâ (âThe NSA Is Building the Countryâs Biggest Spy Center. Watch What You Say.â) The project was code named âStellar Wind.â
Monday morning the same light flooded the room. The same symbols of liberty and oppression lay in stark contrast below. The same five church steeples reach for the sky as though to appeal to God for His influence.
The same residents drive by, perhaps the greatest symbol of totalitarianism of all time, on their way to work, as though it does not exist. Some may even work at this place to help give the government details on their neighbor. Everything about these ugly, windowless, gray structures violates the Constitution. Chances are those of the community next door that sing of freedom will reelect the same Democrats and Republicans that authorized and funded their surveillance. I closed the window. If I too ignore what it shows, it will go away. Right?
Four years ago I awoke on a Sunday morning where I was visiting family, a ray of light coming through the window. The window view showed side-by-side symbols; one of liberty, as represented by a small community of multi-colored and multi-shaped living structures with residents going about their business oblivious to the second symbol, represented by large, gray, ugly, windowless government buildings spying on and recording everyoneâs communication. The contrast of liberty and totalitarian intent was startling and breathtaking. I was in Bluffdale, Utah viewing the NSAâs top spy facility in the world named the Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center.
To the far left of the window view was a new housing development intruding into largely undeveloped land, like an extending finger, with brown hills above it and a large hay farm in front and below stretching far forward and to the right of my view. Here residents made choices that enhanced the quality and comfort of their lives largely free from total government spying and restriction â or so they thought.
The number of churches to the population seemed unusually high, five church steeples reaching skyward, as if begging for the influence of God in their community, in what looked to be no more than 300 structures, mostly apartments, as seen from my window â all within a mile of where I was. I attended one of the churches and was greeted with the opening song âAmerica the Beautiful,â the classic patriotic tune words written by Katherine Lee Bates and music by Samuel A. Ward. It housed the favorite words âAmerica! America!â followed by four phrases in four verses âGod shed his grace on thee,â and, âGod mend thine every flaw,â and, âMay God thy gold refine,â and again, âGod shed his grace on thee.â Obviously, these Christians loved their liberty. A similar tune representing a relationship between God, country and liberty could have been found throughout most of the country the Sunday before the 4th of July.
In stark contrast, off in the distance about two miles but still clearly visible from the left side of the same window, was the most profound symbol of big government ever â the new NSA spy center, the largest in the world, capable of holding a yottabyte of information collected from every person on earth, with space enough for generations to come. These enormous, ugly, gray, windowless, buildings perched on a hill with intimidating guard-houses restricting entrance, represented potential total control of the actions and thoughts of every human.
Much was published on NSA government spying of its own people including LibertyUnderFire.org columns, so nothing new is found in this one. A project began under George W. Bush and accelerated under Barack Obama, Bluffdale âis the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade and a half. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the worldâs communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks⦠Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trailsâparking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital âpocket litterâ (âThe NSA Is Building the Countryâs Biggest Spy Center. Watch What You Say.â) The project was code named âStellar Wind.â
Monday morning the same light flooded the room. The same symbols of liberty and oppression lay in stark contrast below. The same five church steeples reach for the sky as though to appeal to God for His influence.
The same residents drive by, perhaps the greatest symbol of totalitarianism of all time, on their way to work, as though it does not exist. Some may even work at this place to help give the government details on their neighbor. Everything about these ugly, windowless, gray structures violates the Constitution. Chances are those of the community next door that sing of freedom will reelect the same Democrats and Republicans that authorized and funded their surveillance. I closed the window. If I too ignore what it shows, it will go away. Right?
- Libertarian
- https://neinchan.com/pol/
Joined May 2019
