There is an old political saying that … what one side points to with pride the other side views with alarm. The hyperbole of political narratives is amplified and sensationalized by the media as a matter of professional practice. The facts are even more distorted when the media operates with an underlying political bias.
Nowhere is that reality more evident than in the coverage of government shutdowns.
The prospect of a government shutdown is elevated to the level of existential crisis to the Republic … a threat to national security … a blow to the economy … a domestic disaster of epic proportions … those who wish to continue reckless spending and excessive taxing – and borrowing.
Those who do not want to put a break on reckless and unsustainable spending put the propaganda machine in full gear. They say a shutdown in the coming weeks will be catastrophic — causing unprecedented irreparable harm to the nation and millions of Americas. They employ good old fashioned fearmongering to enable their … reckless and unsustainable spending.
That is what government shutdowns are all about. The threat of a government shutdown – or even an actual government shutdown – is a last ditch effort by the adults in the chamber to impose restraint on spending … upward spiraling taxes … growing deficits … massive borrowing … an increasing National Debt … and an eventual economic collapse.
Unfortunately, the fearmongering and the biased reporting works. It scares people into believing that those who are trying to reign in our out-of-control federal government — and prevent an economic disaster for our children and grandchildren — are the bad guys (and gals).
One of the reasons it works for the tax-and-spend crowd (actually that should be the spend-tax-borrow crowd) is that too much of the American public is addicted to government money – from the single mom to the professors and school unions … to the major corporations …. to the seniors … to damn near everyone.
Scottish historian Alexander Tyler warned of the problem in his 1787 book, “The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic.” He wrote:
“A democracy … can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”
The same fear has been paraphrased by a number of Founders – Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jeffersson and Alexander Hamilton — as they crafted the Constitution in 1789.
French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville echoed that theme in 1830, when he noted that “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
Even those who know that Big Brother federal spending is a dangerous addiction for the body politic, there is that addict’s desire to shoot up one more time.
That is what shutdowns are all about. AND … they are not nearly as rare or as damaging as those on the left would have us believe.
Since 1980 there have been 21 shutdowns – and many threatened. Eleven of them were very short lived – one day or less, or over a weekend. There were 10 that lasted more than a day – 1981 (3 days), 1982 (2 days), 1984 (2 days), 1986 (2 days), 1990 (4 days), November 1995 (6 days), December/January 1995-96 (22 days), 2013 (16 days) and 2018 (3 days)
Government shutdowns are neither frequent nor rare. They have, however, become part of the political process in the past 43 years as attempts to cut federal spending.
For sure, it creates a level of inconvenience and disappointment for a few folks. Like not being able to visit a National Part – possibly. The most serious impact is a possible delay in paychecks to government workers. For a small number the economic impact is more severe – but at least temporary. Social Security payments continue – as can the pay to the military if a shutdown goes long. The longest so far was 22 days – too short of a time to create serious hardship.
What we can learn from the history of shutdowns is that they are not the Draconian events they are portrayed to be by Democrats and the media – whose only interest is to continue the reckless spending that is central to their trading the public money as bribes for votes – for permanent empowerment.
Unfortunately, Tyler, de Tocqueville and the Founders are correct. Getting voters to keep electing candidates who will feed the addiction on public funds will eventually bring down the Republic in favor of an autocratic government run from top down by a permanent class of elitists – the very class who engage in reckless spending and engage in mendacious fearmongering in the face of a shutdown.
If we face another shutdown in November, the clamor will be to reopen the government AT ALL COSTS. Even if the cost is the future of the Republic, itself – and the economic welfare and security of future generations.
So, there ‘tis.