It was fun while it lasted. Anarchists all over the world are laughing at a country whose government was brought down--not by rebellion--but by lack of cash. That's right! As I write this, Republicans and Democrats are racing to reach an agreement on how to scrape together enough money to keep the federal government going. Oh wait, actually they're probably at home on their couches. But they will resume their talks in the morning.
And by talks I do mean their desperate attempts to bargain with each other and coerce each other into supporting their own private political agendas. Like Republicans saying they should put a halt to abortion funding in the District, which will undoubtedly be shot down by Democrats, thereby making them the perfect scapegoats for the long-awaited government shut down.
Don't get me wrong--Republicans aren't the ones at fault here--it's the entire system. We have a room full of people who gather together on opposite sides of an arena to pray together and then battle each other for control of a budget cut that should have been taken care of months--maybe years--ago!
It's disgraceful. This isn't how a government should be run--by a bipartisan group of people who aren't willing to compromise without getting something in return. We have a Speaker of the House who is openly saying that while he thinks Obama is a nice guy, he just isn't the best leader. Somehow I don't think people voted for Obama because he was "nice".
And so now we sit back, wondering if the government will be able to stay afloat for the rest of the year, wondering if the people who came over from Japan for the Cherry Blossom Festival will actually be able to participate, wondering if the streets of DC will be filled with rotting trash bags, wondering if government workers will be forced to sit at home without pay, wondering if small businesses will be able to pay their bills when their federal loans are put on hold.
The worst part is, we're running around trying to help other countries bring down their oppressive governments, and we can't even afford to pick up the trash in our capital. We can't even afford to keep our monuments--the symbols that represent the values on which our country was built--open to the public. Meanwhile, as mid-April looms before us, we're preparing our taxes, seeing how much we've contributed to our nation's piggy bank, and wondering--where has all of our money gone?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/hill-negotiators-struggle-to-reach-budget-deal-to-avert-shutdown/2011/04/06/AFh8KjpC_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/government-shutdown-potential-furloughs-for-800000-federal-workers-disruption-of-dc-services/2011/04/06/AFRItOqC_story.html
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