What Government Shutdown?

I thought there was a government shutdown, but I still got my mail, we still have military soldiers overseas, and Congress is still getting paid.

I guarantee you that if the entire government actually shut down mail, military, and congressional paychecks, we would never have a government shutdown ever. But when the only things shutting down are parks, museums, and social services for the working class, the Congress as a whole couldn’t care less and the Republicans in Congress don’t care at all. In fact, the Republicans are thrilled. They just don’t want to be blamed for it. Remember, the Republicans don’t believe in government. To them, government is something that needs to be drowned in a bathtub or something… except of course for their government subsidies for farms, government contracts to the military industrial complex, and government bailouts to Wall Street.

If businesses stopped getting their mail or had to actually pay FedEx for their regular mail, Congress would do whatever it took to keep the government open and big businesses happy. If shutting down the government meant our troops would stop fighting, Congress would do whatever it takes to keep the government open so that corporations can continue to build weapons and war machines. If Congress were the ones not getting paid instead of hard working Americans, they would stay open no matter what even though they get far more money from legal bribes and wouldn’t miss their paychecks at all. Most of our representatives are greedy fucks, after all.

The problem is that it really isn’t a government shutdown. It’s only a partial shutdown. Only the services that working people use are shut down and Congress doesn’t care about that stuff. The Republicans love it. The poor get screwed and the rich save money on taxes.

People actually depend on some of these services. Surprise, surprise, safety inspections on food and in other important areas have been affected and corporations don’t have to worry about being fined so they can cut corners and do whatever they want. Ron Paul hasn’t been this giddy since his wife let him name their son Rand.

Programs like WIC, which help to feed low-income women, infants, and children has been halted. You know the Republicans love that.

The CDC has been reduced and this puts our country severely at risk. But as flu season is upon us, the main risk is a limited supply of flu vaccines. Once again, the rich will get their vaccines and everyone else will have to scramble to for the left overs.

NASA is mainly closed except for a skeleton crew needed to monitor current missions. So now this shutdown is affecting human progress in space too. Science suffers because Republicans want to play Russian Roulette with our economy.

Like I said before, the mail will still be delivered, soldiers will still be reporting for duty (although they may not actually get paid), Homeland Security will mostly be unaffected, the courts will still be throwing people in private corporately owned prisons, and air traffic controllers will keep planes in the air. Business people have to get around after all and even private planes require air traffic controllers.

Are you seeing the pattern here? If it affects rich people, it stays open during a shutdown but if it affects the working poor, the shutdown could fuck you up. I really think it would have been better if a shutdown meant a full and complete shutdown of ALL government services. Then there is no way the Republicans would dare play these kinds of games. Their corporate masters would never allow them too. They wouldn’t allow Obama and the Democrats to either! They would have a private meeting and settle the situation before it got this far.