Thought On the Impending Shutdown

It looks as though (once again), the federal government is about to “shut down.” But what does that mean, exactly?

We’ve been down this road before, and quite a few times. What a government shutdown actually means is the roughly 40% of the federal government that is deemed “non-essential services” will cease functions until the latest hissy fit ends. Here’s a brief list of things that won’t be affected:

• The military
• Border patrol
• Air traffic control
• Social Security payments
• Most operations of the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc
• Tax collections

So, if Congress is going to shut down those non-essential services but the essential functions of governance continue, then I hope it’s a long shutdown. Not a few days or even a month. No, let’s make it a go right through the end of the fiscal year in September.

Why? Simply put, after seven months of realizing that non-essential services are just that – not essential – we can finally start wresting control of the budget back from the bureaucrats. Once Americans recognize that they’ve been hoodwinked for generations into supporting things nobody really needs, they won’t be anxious to start those operations up again.

So, yes. Let’s have us a shutdown. But this time – let’s leave it shut down permanently.