Would the government shutting down have been such a bad thing? Everyone is breathing such sighs of relief that we narrowly averted a shutdown but I think it might not have been the end of the world.
Sure, civilian employees would have gotten furloughed & yes, Congress would still get paid (which isn't right, In my humble opinion), but we could have figured out how "essential" some of our government offices really are. According to that bastion of accurate, reliable information known as Wikipedia, "[g]overnment employees who provide essential services, often referred to as "essential employees," are required to continue working." So federally run hospitals would still have their nurses & doctors, air traffic controllers would still be managing the airways, fire & police would still be doing whatever it is they do when not fighting fires & crime, respectively. (Sidebar: do you think police are paid too much or too little? I find lefties (politically, not writing-wise) think they don't get paid enough while righties (same) think they are vastly overpaid. I'm torn on the issue, but I don't think we need them controlling our traffic for $50/hour. )
I'm of the opinion that our government is a bloated, lumbering bureaucracy that has gotten too big to successfully do much of anything well. & I say this as someone who currently receives unemployment compensation after losing my job last year (I love that expression, "losing my job", like I misplaced it & now can't find it - dang it, where did my job go? I left it right next to my keys). So I'm sure the government shutting down would not have a been a good thing for me personally or the millions of others collect/receive unemployment assistance. But looking at it objectively, I think a government shutdown would have been a fine way to determine how much of our enormous monolithic government is actually essential and what is so much pork.
I just wish Congress got furloughed as well because that is a group of useless blowhards only out to protect their seat & therefore their electorate. But that's a posting for another day. Feel free to comment & share your opinions.
Well, I agree in principle with what you're saying. But as someone who is inside & had to deal with the prep, I can tell you it wouldn't have worked that way.
ReplyDeleteAll agencies would be running, at some level, and there would be a scarce few people trying to do all work (mostly management, who may be "essential" but not quite "competent"). When things got up & running again, there would be an insane scurry to get things caught up by those of us who do the work but get blamed for the mismanagement from above. This would just be another link in that long chain.
I'm hoping that by cutting budgets, those in power will try to consolidate programs with essentially the same mission and create some sort of efficiency.
As a gov't worker, I'd gladly take an unpaid furlough to get things straightened out. Sadly, I don't think anything is going to fix what's this broken though. A shutdown would have just hurt lots of innocents (national park tour businesses, for example).
Thank you for that perspective, Ti. I truly appreciate it. As usual, the little guy would get the short end of the stick.
ReplyDeleteFrom my friend Marissa who is an investigator for the Army Criminal Service & full-time military (I think I got that right!) She couldn't post so I'm posting for her:
ReplyDelete"As a Soldier and a Federal Agent, I would have gone without pay, but would have continued working. In fact, I am scheduled to travel back to Kuwait to testify at a Court Martial this week. I would have had to foot the bill until everything got "straightened" out. Do you realize how much that is? Military members are still only getting half their pay checks, come 15 Apr 11. We should be fully compensated by 30 Apr 11, but for those Soldiers that live paycheck to paycheck, it is not a good situation.
So, while a Government shutdown may have forced some Agencies to put some much needed perspective into their corporate lives; the shutdown would have affected the everyday lives of all Military members. And just because I am a Federal Agent, does not mean I get paid a lot to do "cop" work. Military members are notoriously underpaid. It is embarassing to admit how much, but suffice it to say that it is below certain poverty levels."
Thanks Marissa for your insight as a member of the military & as police. I'm loving that this blog is fostering discussion & that I'm learning from it!