The government may shut down in a few days.
Unlike previous almost-shut-downs, this time no one seems to care.
Perhaps The White House and Congress have cried “wolf” too many times. It could be that the fear has worn off. (“Yawn.”)
Perchance we’ve been taken to the edge of the fiscal cliff too many times. It’s possible that we used to worry that we could go over, but now the edge doesn’t bother us. (“Oh, you again.”)
Mayhap the lack of fear stems from record low approval ratings for politicians and for all one knows Americans would indeed like the government to shutdown. (“How much worse could things be?”)
Maybe we’re starting to think we could get along without this version of our government operating system. It is possible that we’re thinking that shutting it down and taking it to the recycling center wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Peradventure we’re starting to look around for a new model to replace a trusted old workhorse. (“This new model will cost less, perform better, and save money!”)
Perhaps we do care, and perhaps we care a bit more than the politicians who find value in deadlock and corruption. (“We see this an an opportunity, not a tragedy.”)
The government may shut down in a few days.
Is This Really Different?
My impression of these budget battles is that they’re always hard. Yes, we have a tea party now and there’s the sequester, but how much has changed, really?
In 1981, I was a temp with the Forest Service in the PNW at this time of year. There was no budget agreement, and the talk in the news was “Government Shuts Down October 1!!!!!!”.
When asked, my boss said, come in to work anyway unless you hear otherwise. We did. Life went on.
Why would this year be any different?
I guess we’ll find out, but this is the battle we’ve inherited from the time of FDR, that appears to be a permanent fixture of life in the USA.
And yes, we care, but we’re not going to worry till we need to (ie when somebody truly threatens “our” programs, whatever those happen to be.).
Library of Congress
I have to be honest. Tonight I had a specific, personal reason to care, and it wasn’t even of any great importance. Just a little annoyance.
I was doing some work and wanted to go look at the scans of old Vermont Phoenix at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov , but the site has been shut down. No old papers and history, at least not for the moment.