Well, it happened again. The spoiled rich kids threw a fit because they couldn’t get their way, and now everyone around them is scrambling to pick up their mess. Except this isn’t a movie, it’s the real world, and it isn’t high school, it’s Congress. To quote Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., “You don’t get to hold the entire economy, the entire country hostage because you don’t like the outcome of an election.” Yet, seemingly, that is exactly what was done. This absurdly childish behavior has many implications for us, both as students at a public research university and as citizens of the country as well as the world.
The government shutdown involves more than 2 million federal workers not receiving their paycheck, and veterans may not receive their benefits if the shutdown lasts more than two weeks. Federal agencies such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention will have to stop its yearly flu program, and the Food and Drug Administration will have to stop most of its food-safety operations.
Senators’ offices are also closed. For example, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis, posted on her website that federal law and Senate rules mandate her offices and website must be shut down.
On a level closer to home, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers who would normally be applying for federal funding, now have to wait until after the shutdown ends to submit funding requests, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Another critical factor to consider in this saga of embarrassing drama is the government shutdown damaging the trust people have in the federal government.
Perhaps the most damaging effect of the government shutdown is the crippling of the United States’ reputation as a result. There goes the concept of the good ol’ American exceptionalism—a reputation, admittedly, we do not perhaps deserve. Put simply, our system of government is a laughing stock. After the opinionated editorial by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in The New York Times, basically casting serious doubt on our idea of American exceptionalism, you would think we would want to tread lightly.
The Affordable Care Act, even with the government shutdown, has gone through regardless, making the shutdown a quite literal temper tantrum thrown by Congress. It is extremely embarrassing to our country that our political ideology (defined by a very small part of our country —the extreme right) has taken precedence over Congress doing its job. How in the hell is America supposed to be taken seriously if we are allowing the government to shut down simply because a majority of the House of Representatives is “mad” about “Obamacare?”
The Affordable Care Act is the ONE CENTRAL PIECE of legislation defining President Barack Obama’s presidency. He has cooperated on numerous other issues of critical importance, including foreign policy. He also recently asked Congress’ permission with regard to Syria, but the ONE THING that he is unwilling to compromise on, which is going through anyway, is something Congress is not willing to let go. It is a failure of our government, of our system of checks and balances.
With Congress’ approval rate being only 10 percent as it is, what kind of stupidity has to be involved to make Congress think this is a smart move? It’s childish, embarrassing and quite frankly a stain on the image of American democracy. Are respectable men and women running our Congress, or are they simply a group of catty teenage girls attempting to fight this out? At the moment, this question seems pretty obviously answered.
Thank you for shutting down the government. This is definitely what our editorial board, and millions of other American citizens, wanted.
No. Actually, shutting the government down to make a point is downright irresponsible. A few politicians are letting a petty ideological problem get in the way of doing their one job, and now the American people are suffering for something they had little control over. This is not representative of the American people; it is representative of a few people who can’t swallow their pride.
At this point, a government that’s shut down is not going to make solving problems any easier, and this should not be a strategy for when two parties (or three in this case) can’t agree. This editorial board’s faith in the government was already pretty shaky, and now it’s unequivocally broken.
Is Congress letting you down, too? Let us know your opinion! Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
