The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

I don’t work for the government so this Shutdown isn’t affecting me directly. Nevertheless, like most of us armchair citizens, I would like to end this game of Chicken as soon as possible. But you know and I do too, this standoff is going to be one long and ugly chapter in an era that will go down in the annals of politics as one of the very worst. Pick a side, there’s plenty of blame to go around and the longer this pissing match goes on, everyone loses. Especially American style democracy. And really, isn’t this what some folks want? Drain the swamp? Downsize government then drown it in the toilet?

Pelosi suggested to Trump that he forget about giving the State of the Union speech to Congress this year. Trump canceled her trip to Afghanistan. Pelosi can counter with Your Mother Wears Army Boots and Trump can throw his lunch hamburger and fries at her. Meanwhile 800,000 folks are furloughed or worse, working without being paid. And there are plenty more who are collateral damage.

Trump won’t budge unless he gets his Wall and the House won’t negotiate unless there’s something to negotiate. The Senate, well, the Senate won’t do anything until McConnell gets a notarized pledge from the Prez that he’ll go along with whatever bargain they come up with. Something tells me this isn’t what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they set up the checks and balances. In some countries this would be the right time for the military to step in and end this constitutional crisis by just skipping the constitution. In our case we’re going to get a food fight.

Every day of this month long shutdown more government workers are being called back to their jobs. Not with pay, mind you, just to hold down the damage. No one thinks this is fair. Some may think this is just a bit of a nuisance, nothing to jump up and shout about, but the longer folks work who can’t pay for daycare or groceries or a mortgage or a car payment or emergency visits, the more it will seem like more, much more, than just a nuisance. When the rich sneer that these people can eat cake if they’re hungry, they’ve started a fire that will make the discontent of the last election look like a wiener roast. The trouble is, we’re all going to get burned.

Hits: 38