The government shut down was caused by a disagreement over a law, the Affordable Care Act. It is unlikely that the shut down will lead to any real progress against this law. It could, however, present an opportunity to make progress in curbing certain bureaucracies, and for this reason a prolonged shut-down is desirable.
Consider, for instance, the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This agency is attempting to socially engineer every neighborhood in America, in the name of diversity. Ninety-five percent of its employees are currently sitting at home, where they are doing much less damage than if they happened to be in their offices.
The IRS is similarly crippled. Ninety-one percent of its workers are currently unable to target their political opponents using the tax code.
The Department of Justice is being forced to send 15 percent of its workforce home. If the shut down continues, it will be forced to suspend working its civil cases. This is an opportunity to prevent DOJ from bullying states with lawsuits over voter ID laws, immigration enforcement, etc. Also, after two weeks, federal courts will be forced to operate with skeleton crews, potentially creating another obstacle to Washington's judicial activism.
And perhaps the EPA's enforcement of regulations designed to destroy coal will be frustrated. Right now, 94 percent of EPA employees are not on the job.
So, if you think that the federal government, which was originally supposed to exercise limited and defined powers, is out of control, then the government shut down is a positive development regardless of whether any changes are made to the Affordable Care Act. Also, aside from reigning in specific bureaucracies, the shut-down has the potential to be beneficial in that, the longer a significant portion of the federal government does not function, the more people will realize that they do not need it.
Jay Underwood
Chattanooga
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I agree one hundred percent, great idea keeping government closed. That way HUD won't be giving those dumb low interest loans to first time homebuyers. Also, it'll put a stop to that Multifamily Housing Service Coordinator program that allows frail or at risk seniors to remain in their houses instead of being shipped off to a nursing home.
Let's keep the IRS closed, too. That way dishonest and corrupt Wall Street bankers can go back to looting everybody's 401(k). Who wouldn't want another 2008?
Keeping the Department of Justice closed is great, too. I mean, why would we want the DOJ attempting to get rid of those pesky North Carolina laws designed to solve the imaginary voter fraud that is rampant in that state? Don't those people over there know their place? We must keep those minorities and college students from voting. Really, when you think about it, what do they know anyway?
Thank goodness the EPA is out of commission, too. Who really wants to keep our air breathable and our water drinkable? Plus, this could give the "clean coal" lobby (an oxymoron if there ever was one) the time they need to convince us that they have an actual viable working process, when in fact, they do not.
Hopefully, they can keep the pressure on to defund that dumb Obamacare. I mean sure, it's a law and has been deemed constitutional by a conservative Supreme Court, but that means nothing. When a minority of 20 or 30 self-important diehard tea party Republicans want their way, why shouldn't their minority views be more important than the majority?
Best thing is, if this keeps up, I won't have to drive to the Smoky Mountains and see those stupid looking red and gold leaves turning. When you've seen one beautiful autumn, you've seen them all.
If our President could just understand all of this, everything would be okay.
Herb Montgomery
Chattanooga
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I agree one hundred percent too.
If HUD is closed, Fannie and Freddie too, maybe they won't be using our hard earned tax dollars to guarantee those low interest loans to some who are barely qualified for them in the first place, and some who certainly are not. First time home buyers or no, it still doesn't justify the financial liability foist upon those of us who have been good stewards of our own earnings so we don't over-extend ourselves and can live within our means.
Maybe if home healthcare providers didn't have to wash dishes and clean house for those, and they aren't just seniors, who receive such services that are paid for by the rest of us, those home healthcare professionals could see more people every day. Maybe those receiving services could have their own family come in to wash dishes, wash clothes, and clean their homes for them instead of at tax payer expense. Better yet, if those people can't take care of themselves to the extent they need someone to come see them, maybe they should have different living arrangements anyway. If they're in such sad shape they can't live for a few days without a visit by a healthcare professional, why are they at home in the first place?
Let's also keep bailing out Wall Street and other companies that are too big to fail so the Presidents of companies such as GM can tell us taxpayers to suck it up and quit whining about President Obama handing out our tax dollars to them, many of which have turned right around and filed for bankruptcy. Need I mention Solindra, First Solar, Abound Solar or any of the other 50+ so-called green energy manufacturers that have taken taxpayer money and then filed bankruptcy? Gosh, who wouldn't want another 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 or any other year with either a bust, un/under employment increases, or terrible economic growth statistics in it? Let's just forget about people staying in college so they don't have to start paying back student loans or the increase in disability filings. If we pretend they don't exist they'll go away won't they.
Yes, let's go get those dastardly Tarheels who have the audacity to demand that everyone, no matter what race, religion, or income level, present a government issued photo ID in order to vote and have eliminated same day registration during early voting. Let's go after those other redneck southern states where everybody chews tobacco that have passed similar legislation in recent years. They're all nogoodnicks. Let's hang 'em high.
With the EPA out of commission, maybe they won't issue any more permits for those nasty batteries that have to be disposed of over here in Barnwell, S.C. Maybe they won't decimate our coal industry or any other industry they've taken aim at recently, no matter what affect it has on our economy. Let's keep that unregulated body that isn't overseen by our elected congress in any shape, form, or fashion so they can continue their unreasonable demands. Check their mercury emissions procedure. The instrument they use to monitor mercury emissions levels injects more mercury into the measured system than they allow.
Gosh, the National Park Service will demand states close their own parks, that receive no federal money, and will put more manpower at open air monuments than is there normally so that veterans, real heroes, can't visit their monument, but Obamacare can roll out as planned. We hear scary stories about what might happen, what might be shut down, who might not get a check, but maybe I won't have to stand in line at the grocery store with my wife behind someone with head to toe tattoos paying for chips, soft drinks, deli meats, and prepared foods with an EBT card. That dumb Obamacare is the law of the land, no matter what its effect on the rest of our economy and no matter how many people whose jobs are converted from full to part time. What kind of idiot expects men and women who stormed the beaches of Normandy, Saipan, Okinawa, Guam, and fought in deserts, swamps, mountains, and other places, in conditions most of us can't even imagine, to be stopped by a few rented barricades? Psshaw I say, psssssshaw, with some high test vinegar.
If those who complain so heartily about shutting down government had ever had to deal with these bureaucracies, maybe even written a paycheck or two, or had people whose lives, livelihoods, and families depended upon the stability and continuation of a business, maybe they would understand what all the commotion is about concerning this Obamacare fiasco.
I also question how many of those awful Tea Party folks those who complain about them so much know personally. It's always easy to take verbal and written pot shots from a distance at people we not only don't know but refuse to meet so they can get to know them.
Jim Earley
Lancaster, S.C.