
<p>Some movies have surprise endings. ; But if you are surprised every time you see the movie, you are the dummy in the room. ; Did anyone really believe that the government was going to shut down? ; The only question was what would be the terms that would avoid the shutdown at the last moment.</p>



<p>So, what did we get?</p>



<p>Basically, we got what is called a Continuing Resolution that was described as a “clean bill.” ; That means there was nothing but the basics – nothing controversial. It simply means that the government will carry forward without resolving major issues or doing anything to address the spending … borrowing … deficit … National Debt … problem. ; The Congress and the White House have simply agreed to continue the reckless and irresponsible spending for another 45 days – when we will face a so-called crisis again. ;</p>



<p>What is just as notable is what we did not get.</p>



<p>There is no funding in this measure for the defense of Ukraine and for securing the Am-Mex border. ; Ponder that for a moment. ; Two of the most existential crises impacting on the United States are Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the record number of folks crossing our southern border illegally. ; And what we get is a bipartisan deal to … ignore them.</p>



<p>The fact that Republicans and Democrats in Washington did not address these issues is evidence of dysfunction – putting insider political posturing ahead of the real issues. ; Keep in mind that these folks in Washington are the progeny of past legislators who abandoned the traditional and rational budgeting process more than 25 years ago. ; Rather than debate a real budget, our leaders have maintained the procedure to avoid debating a budget. ; It has been nothing but Continuing Resolutions and Omnibus Bills.</p>



<p>There will be funding for Ukraine in future legislations. ; Less certain is funding for border security. ; That is because supporting Ukraine has broad bipartisan support in Congress – despite a few loud voices on the left and louder voices on the right. ; But so far, Democrats have been united in their disinterest in dealing with the throngs crossing the border every day.</p>



<p>This 45-day extension is a loss for fiscal responsibility because it does not address the cancer of out-of-control spending. ; Spending is the political opiate of the ruling establishment in Washington. ; And like all addictions, there will be no happy ending unless they can shake the habit.</p>



<p>More specifically … ; let us look at the key players and their respective roles. ; Who were the responsible folks and who were the business-as-usual characters. ;</p>



<p>Among those who failed to bring about sane and responsible action is, of course, Speaker McCarthy. ; I have previously written my opinion that he is ineffective at best – and a disaster at worst. ; He is neither a good strategist nor a good salesman. ; His main weakness is flipping and flopping like a flounder on the deck. ; He seems to be a guy who agrees with the last person he talked to – or is it that he just tells everyone what he thinks they want to hear? ; In either case, it is a weakness of leadership in a place and situation where leadership is a Number One required skill.</p>



<p>But do not focus only on McCarthy. ; Failure of responsible leadership is endemic in Washington. ;</p>



<p>Democrats get their share of the blame. ; We would not be facing these sorts of crises if they were not the party of tax-and-spend. ; They have been the architects of big … no, huge… government spending since the days of Franklin Roosevelt. ; They have never seen a cutback that they liked. ; President Biden is the reincarnation of the Roosevelt government expansion philosophy – philosophy that has been politically beneficial for Democrats, but not for the taxpayers or the American people.</p>



<p>Republican establishmentarians have done their part of kicking the budgeting can down the road – and succumbed to the charms of excessive spending. ; The Trump years added $7 trillion to the National Debt with the enthusiastic support of Democrats. That has to be viewed in terms of the impact of the Covid Pandemic on federal income and perceived spending needs. ; Regardless, it was an orgy of spending that went beyond real need<a>s.</a></p>



<p>So rather than participate in the legislative process, Democrats literally stayed on the sidelines as spectators as Republicans grappled with the issue of funding week after week. ; They finally joined in the last-minute CR bill that prevented a government shutdown – but only so long as it maintained the excessive spending levels.</p>



<p>Then there was the contingent of naysayers led by Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. He became the face of the disrupters – and gained more derision than praise from all sides. The group that opposed the CR process and much of the budget, itself, was subjected to weeks of winnowing criticism from Democrats, fellow Republicans and the leftwing media.</p>



<p>Lost in the torrent of criticism was the reason for their obstinance. ; Their goals were twofold. ; They wanted a restoration of the traditional budgeting process – one in which we the people can follow our elected representatives debating line-item issues. ; Creating a real budget prior to the end of the fiscal year avoiding the threat of shutdowns – as Congress is supposed to do – has not happened since 1996.</p>



<p>The problem with the stopgap CRs and Omnibus bills is that they abandon any proposals to cut federal spending with a promise to deal with that after they resolve the immediate crisis. ; Of course, once the threat of a shutdown is ended, they never follow-up with legislation to address the deficit spending … the borrowing … and the burgeoning National Debt. ; The Gaetz crew were saying “enough is enough.”</p>



<p>The second purpose behind Gaetz &; Company was to really really cut spending – to address the problem for real. That is about as popular in Washington these days as is the 10<sup>th</sup> Amendment of the Consti<a>tution.</a></p>



<p>I would be remiss if I did not include the corruptive role of the news media. ; They politicized the lead-up to the shutdown resolution with their usual leftwing bias – and at the same time used sensationalized fearmonger to promote public anxiety. ; Surely, they knew that an actual shutdown was unlikely – and even if there was a short one, very little of the predicted Draconian outcomes would have transpired. ; It was just another example of Democrat strategist Rahm Emmanuel’s infamous admonition to “never let a crisis go to waste” when it can be spun to political advantage. ; We saw the same concocted cliffhanger with the federal bill payment controversy just a few months ago<a>.</a></p>



<p>The media was quick and eager to hype and spin the situation and blame one political party for a dysfunction in Washington that has been a bipartisan failure for decades. ;</p>



<p>The entire situation reminds me of the annual “Peanuts” cartoon in which Lucy promises to let Charlie Brown kick the football only to snatch it away at the last moment – and poor Charlie lands on his butt every time. ; In that analogy Lucy’s endless promises represent the Washington bi partisan establishment and Charlie is we the people. ; We just landed on our butts again. ; Will it ever end?</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>