Go Home No one wants you.....

The recent closure of the “government” has had some peculiar consequences.  Generally when a business closes its doors they simply put a sign out front saying “closed” and lock the door and walk away but when the government closes its doors (figuratively speaking of course) they have to take extraordinary measures to make sure that they can inflict as much pain on the public as possible in order to shove home the point that they have had to actually close.

The first example is the brilliant plan of hiring programmers to create new websites to inform us, the public, that the old websites are no longer working due to the shut down.  My daughter actually tried to access an old website for some research and it stated it was closed, again due to the “shutdown”.  I’m confused here, I've had a web page for years, no one looks at it and its really just taking up space but I paid for a two or three year package deal and so it’s just there, sitting, waiting for those random surfers to accidentally click on the site and be wowed.  The point I’m trying to make is it takes no effort whatsoever to leave a site unattended and running, but it takes a great effort to actually close the site and create another site to let others know that the site is closed.

Another example is the closure of the National Parks and Monuments, but in particular the Monuments that are simply out in the open and easily accessed by passersby, those that had little or no supervision prior to the closure that now have barricades surrounding them.  The effort to enclose these Monuments with barricades cost more than leaving them open.  The Vietnam Memorial is a great example; it’s in the middle of a grassy area and is accessible by almost any direction.  They had to literally surround the entire memorial in order to close it in order to keep rogue war veterans from visiting.

Did I mention that congress is still getting paid?  And did I mention that furloughed workers will most likely get back pay for any time off due to the shutdown?  And did I mention that when some parks are closed there are a few parks still open, but only those near where certain influential Senators live in and around Washington DC? So we have to ask ourselves what is a shut down and is it really a shut down or just some cruel ploy to make the public suffer so they scream loud enough for one party or the other in hopes of garnering enough support that one party has enough clout over the other party that the one party wins.

What do we win?  What does the public get out of this?  It’s obvious; at least to me that this shut down is nothing more than a ruse and a slight of hand for political maneuvering.  It’s like two angry children arguing over whose ball it is and the rules of a sandlot game while the rest of the team, on both sides, sits by and waits.  It would be better for all concerned if the two perpetrators of selfishness would take the ball and there rules and go home, stopping the game altogether leaving the rest to simply start a new game.

I know its bit more complicated than that but in truth the rules of the game have become too complicated, the cost of playing to high and the players are continually arguing over who owns the field, the balls and the players, the referees are powerless, the owners have no say and have actually been locked out, debts are piling up, ticket sales are down and the stadium is in foreclosure.  It’s time to start a new game.

Since the stadium is in complete disrepair, the seats are missing and the concessions are tasteless and overpriced why spend the money to fix what is already a lost cause?  Since it’s closed already keep it closed and let’s move on, there is a perfect place down the river to build a new stadium where lots of games can be played, new players are willing and more than capable of entertaining the hoards of fans that are ready to pay the fee. 

Like so many aspects of our society the ungovernable seems to be the norm.  From large school districts to mismanaged cities and counties to states and the federal government the level of corruption is rampant, the level of incompetence pervasive leaving the public with only one choice, scrap what we have and start over. 

The Constitution still works, the framework of our society is still strong but the structure is weak, the roads are pitted with potholes, the senate riddled with fraud, the house rife with ineptitude and the executive branch and judiciary are slowly crumbling under the weight of their own importance.  None serve the people, so let the people rise up and close them down, even if they decide to magnanimously reopen the government I think we should refuse to participate, just like they refused to let us in to our memorials, our national parks and even those unmanned scenic roads that lead to nowhere but a good view of what makes this country great.  They had to spend the money to pay someone to install barricades on these roads that were never manned in the first place.

What kind of government does that?  Not one that I want!