The disconnect between reality and their abstract aversion toward government is what first led to the infamous conservative cry: "Government, Hands Off My Medicare." Now they, and other Americans, are being reminded what government really is:
It's parks, historic sites, and campgrounds, with plenty of park rangers on hand to keep them safe, maintain the property, and show them around;It's medical research, sick kids getting experimental treatments, and investigators working to prevent the next flu pandemic;
It's inspectors working to make sure you don't get food poisoning from your next meal, or lose a limb to unsafe machinery on the job;
It's the men and women of the armed forces, patrolling land, sea, and air to maintain the nation's defenses.
Government is all those things, and many more. And with every day that the shutdown continues, people keep being reminded what government does for them.
Enter the Imperial Congress
One might expect insights like these to result in a few personal and political transformations. Ideally they'd lead to an ending worthy of a Frank Capra movie, as an exhausted yet newly-idealistic Jimmy Stewart character stands up beneath the Capitol Dome and confesses: Why, gosh, we were wrong! Folks need government, because folks are government!
But these aren't normal times -- and John Boehner's no Jimmy Stewart. Instead of seeing the light, the Congressional majority has apparently decided to assume an ever-greater imperial role. Their would-be Imperium sought to consolidate power by attaching policy dictates to the continuing resolution (or "CR") that keeps the government open. And now they've invented "mini-CRs," a new kind of selective funding authorization designed to deliver their imperial edicts to the other, newly subordinate branches of government.
Congress appears to be basing these new authorizations on political considerations alone. It issued a "mini-CR" to re-open the National Institutes of Health, for example, apparently for the sole purpose of then claiming that Democrats were trying to deny care to cancer patients. (Republicans have been silent on all the other life-threatening cuts this tactic would prolong, from food programs to public safety.)
A second "mini-CR" was written to keep services open and functioning in the District of Columbia, a measure which (among other things) makes life easier for members of Congress. A third "mini-CR" provided funds to parks, museums, and monuments.
Another "mini-CR" ensured that military personnel and their families would have uninterrupted access to religious services. However, as Rep. Bill Enyart noted, "Day care centers on military bases are closed. Commissaries on military bases are closed. Military support workers are furloughed."
Eventually a "mini-CR" was passed which guarantees back pay to furloughed Federal workers -- including the park ranger harangued by Randy Neugebauer. That bill's being considered favorably by Sen. Reid and the Senate Democrats, according to reports, while the others are not. Democrats are understandably reluctant to institutionalize the Imperial Congress by submitting to its edicts, or to prolong hundreds of dangerous shutdowns by terminating a politically-motivated few solely based on GOP whims.
Fall of Empire
After deliberately refusing to negotiate on a number of occasions (part of the plan they hatched last January), Boehner's now claiming that the President's "refusal to negotiate" is "putting our nation at risk." He's threatening to allow the government to default on its debts, a move which could have severe economic repercussions.
To be fair, Boehner may not have much of a choice. For too long his party's extremists have been over-indulged by the media, their opponents, and their party's leadership. Now they can't be satisfied by anything short of full surrender on basic principles of governance.
"Heaven is high and the emperor is far away ..."
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