-Although the government is supposedly "shut down," at least 80% of government workers are still reporting for duty, and things seem to work fine. This is a powerful argument that we can easily do without at least 20% of the government, and probably more.
-Traffic around DC is significantly lighter than normal. Folks that actually produce wealth are able to get around more quickly and easily. Maybe if we make this permanent, or even cut back another 20%, we can avoid having to pay hundreds of millions for more roadway upgrades in M-O-T-P, NoVa and the People's Republic of Maryland. Not only do we save the cost of the government employess, we save the cost of more infrastructure and the added maintenance, too.
Now the bad news:
-The present administration has gone to considerable length to deliberately inconvenience the public, actually spending more money to block access to government lands that are normally not access controlled. Probably the most notorious of these vindictive spiteful acts is the attempt to screw the WW2 vets who came to Mordor-on-the-Potomac to visit the privately funded memorial in their honor, but there are hundreds of other outrageous examples.
-Speaking of spite, the fulminations of the Progressive tyrants against those who are taking some small steps to try and restore some fiscal sanity is remarkable. Those who are trying to insist that we observe the Constitution and the laws are called terrorists, anarchists, and murderers!
- Nobody in either the Democratic or Republican parties is talking about the fact that in order to stay within our means, we need to cut the 2013 spending in half. Given the hysterical shrieking from those presently in authority, imagine what will happen if these absolutely necessary cuts were proposed?
-The tyrannical programs being run by TSA, and NSA, and CIA, and all of the rest of the unConstitutional A's and B's continue apace. Your phone calls and emails and web posts are all still being stored, cataloged and analyzed, and still will be used against you should those presently exercising power wish to do so.
The present administration is doing a good job of demonstrating that their essential program is spiteful, hateful and anti-American. A lot of middle of the road folks are seeing that, now, and this may pay off down the road, if there is a road left when we get out from under the present illegitimate exercise of authority. Mike over at Cold Fury (link here) has done a good job of pointing out that there have historically been a number of budget impasses, as well as deconstructing the rhetoric of those presently in authority; I commend his site to your attention, gentle reader.
I will continue to watch the budget shenanigans with amusement where I can find it, but in general this circus is a mark of how far our country has fallen from the ideals of the Founding, and my laughter will be bitter.
Update:
The Park Service thugs are trying, but failing, to close Mount Vernon; link here.
More on the spending of additional money as the present administration's response to a budget shortfall here.
Also turns out that the parks used by Democratic Senators are NOT being shut down. Whodathunkit?
Outrageous, but not surprising. If ever you sought evidence of illegitimacy in government, there it lies, festering and stinking for all to see. And smell. Dead deer by the side of the road are ambrosial by comparison, and yet there are still some who refuse to see or smell.
With regard to all who serve the Light,
Historian