Remember when, during the last pandemic when we were told to shelter in place until the scientist could verify where the plague was coming from and figure out a vaccine given free from the government to prevent the suffering and dying? Like a snow alert, all the milk and eggs and bread were scoffed up and the shelves were bare. What was surprising was that ALL the toilet paper disappeared.
It seems those folks who stood on the soap box and touted they would lower taxes, reduce inflation, increase wages, insure security and getting rid of ‘those’ people were elected to represent our values and concerns and were sent to Washington D.C. to write the rules and laws that will provide us with their promises for six figure salaries and all the perks of the position. These are the folks you probably can’t name who wander the hallowed halls yapping to reporters blaming the ‘other side’ of defeating their dreams. These are the folks you see sitting in the back of a convertible in parades or using giant scissors to cut ribbons at grown breaking construction or provide extravagant dinners for those who will reciprocate donating to their reelection campaign. Seems these folks can’t get along recently so the yank vs the rebs or the reds vs the blues squabble like three-year-olds until they walk away and the government shuts down.
As if our elected officials don’t have enough holidays, they leave the Capitol to coast until we constituents tell them to get back to work and spend our taxes. Unfortunately, when the government ‘shuts-down’, not only do our congress folks go home but many governmental agencies close. Some departmental workers are told to go home and wait (without pay) until they are called back and hopefully receive back pay. Others are fired as a Doge excuse to reduce government waste.
When the government is shut-down, money doesn’t flow. A few ‘essential’ workers must attend and perform their duties (without pay) to keep planes flying, entitled benefit checks going out and a few are protecting cities by blowing boats up in South America.
While we wait, the five-year-old is tearing up the White House to make the ‘People’s House’ into the gilded ‘People’s Palace’ and we all watch astonished. Between being treated like a king overseas to his constant trips to Florida to play a multi-million dollar round of golf, he says fodder that only late night television can interpret.
I went to the Tummy Temple today and the parking area was packed, but there were no lines at the customer service desk. Being the first of the month there are usually long queues of large people carts full of soda pops and sweet treats, but they do not have their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) debit cards, formerly known as Food Stamps (not to be confused with the S&K Green Stamps from previous days that were an incentive to attend a certain grocery and collected and saved until there were enough to get a toaster or mixer).
As this shut-down drags on, the administration and the justice system battle over humanity and budget while families start to look like Jamaican hurricane survivors or Gaza refugees scrounging for food scraps while waiting for aid.
The good in us will donate to community food banks and soup kitchens, but inflation, higher premiums for auto insurance, medical insurance, child care will limit our best intentions. When the shelves are bare, there are no other choices.
Halloween just ended. The tradition of children going house-to-house dressed in colorful costumes and begging for candy may become the new normal. Will you close the curtains and lock the door when a family comes by knocking hoping for a donation of a can of beans or wonton soup?
