Make America, America Again
By Hank
Silverberg
“Don’t
it always seem to go
That
you don’t know what you’ve got
'Till
it’s gone.
They
paved paradise
And
put up a parking lot.”
--Joni
Mitchell
America found out over the last month just what life
would be like if that government everyone complains about would cease to
function. Had the shutdown gone on much longer, millions of people would have
been homeless and hungry. Not just government workers, but those who rely on
government services or those who work for vendors which do business with the government.
What? You say you don’t get anything from the
government? Here’s a list of things we would have quickly been without if the
government was totally shut down. Let’s start with our borders, since security there is
what touched off this so-called crisis.
 |
| (U.S. Coast Guard ) |
Border patrol agents, Coast
Guardsmen and TSA agents were forced to work for no pay. How long would they
have kept doing that before they all were forced to find a source of income, which would then open our borders completely to drug smugglers, bandits and terrorists far more dangerous than your average illegal immigrant.
Ask the Air Traffic Controllers, whose bold unorganized sick out slowed down flights at several major airports. Planes would not fly if the Controllers were not there. There would be no FBI or DEA to track down the bad guys overburdening local police, making every street in America more dangerous.
Ask the Air Traffic Controllers, whose bold unorganized sick out slowed down flights at several major airports. Planes would not fly if the Controllers were not there. There would be no FBI or DEA to track down the bad guys overburdening local police, making every street in America more dangerous.
Waiting for a tax return? IRS employees were
furloughed, then called back at the last minute without pay. If they were not
there, there would be no tax system to give you a refund or collect taxes. I
suppose there are some people who would like that, until they found out what
services they wouldn’t get if they didn’t pay for them.
No meat inspectors (USDA), no one testing for safe
drugs (FDA), no one to catch polluters or clean up the mess they made (EPA), no
one to prosecute them for poisoning our air and water (Justice Department). There
would be no research on fatal diseases (NIH), and no one to monitor and deal
with pandemics (CDC). Our roads would
not be safe (NHTSA), and the interstate highway system would collapse (USDOT).
Those are the small things. We’d also have millions of
people starving because they couldn’t afford food (SNAP), and millions homeless
(HUD), or unable to buy homes (FHA). We’d probably still have banks but without the FDIC,
your money would not be secure. (See a
history book covering The Great Depression.)
If you are thinking about middle America, like farmers, ranchers or sportsman, then imagine no farm subsidies (Ag Dept), no grazing land to rent (Interior Department) and no one to watch over "Old Faithful" (NPS). "Smokey Bear" (Forest Service) would be job hunting too.
If you are thinking about middle America, like farmers, ranchers or sportsman, then imagine no farm subsidies (Ag Dept), no grazing land to rent (Interior Department) and no one to watch over "Old Faithful" (NPS). "Smokey Bear" (Forest Service) would be job hunting too.
I thought about this as I listened to all the rhetoric
about the partial government shutdown, and watched as people’s savings were
wiped out and their economic future put in jeopardy. Congress and the
President couldn’t get their act together and reach a compromise on federal
spending.
The blame falls mainly on the GOP and President Trump
for
sticking so long with the border wall, which polls show the American people
don’t want. They finally loosened up when the economic and social impact of the
government shutdown took hold. They should have known it was coming.
We now have a three-week reprieve, and hopefully they can find a compromise that pleases both sides. Another long shutdown would ruin the economy for years and could put millions of people out on the streets hungry and angry.
 |
| (Existing border wall, CBP photo) |
We now have a three-week reprieve, and hopefully they can find a compromise that pleases both sides. Another long shutdown would ruin the economy for years and could put millions of people out on the streets hungry and angry.
What we should not be doing is keeping a scorecard of
who won or who lost this round. Democrats have sent a clear message to Mr. Trump
that his good times are over, and he MUST deal with the opposition party. But
there should be no gloating. Republicans
in Congress should realize that following Mr. Trump into hell is not what the
American people want. A poll taken right before the deal backs that up.
The right has ranted against “Big Government” for
decades. They pull out the word “Socialism” to spread fear without any
understanding of just what that ideology is. Perhaps the best example of what is wrong with the
current crowd in the White House came from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose
personal wealth is roughly $700 million. Appearing on CNBC, Ross was asked about all those unpaid federal workers
who were on food bank lines because they couldn’t afford groceries during the
shutdown. He said: “I know they are, and I don’t really quite
understand why.”
It was a "let them eat cake" moment that would have made Marie Antoinette proud.
Our government, when it consists of practical policies,
reasonable taxes to pay for services, and compassionate leaders to manage it, has
helped navigate the United States as close to paradise as any government can. For more than two centuries, most of our presidents have struggled and strived to make it a "more perfect union" our Founding Fathers envisioned. But it is clear that the current crowd of misguided millionaires, who appear to have no understanding of history and therefore no guide for the future, would rather leave us a polluted,
vacant parking lot.
News Notes:
Journalism falls further into darkness:
Also on a sad note this week was the layoffs around the country of more than a thousand journalists by Gannett, the Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. Most of them worked for newspapers. There are a variety of reasons why these layoffs occured, as the print media struggles to compete in the internet world. But our President came up with one that should make every American's blood boil.
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“Ax falls quickly at BuzzFeed and Huffpost!” Headline, New York Post. Fake News and bad journalism have caused a big downturn. Sadly, many others will follow. The people want the Truth!
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The layoffs had nothing to do with quality of reporting or of the news organizations involved, and everything to do with the profit margins of the parent companies. But Mr Trump lowered himself once again with this continued petty attack on an industry and its mission for a profession protected by the U.S. Constitution that he simply doesn't understand.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
(You may order signed copies of my book at a discount by contacting me at hanksilverberg@gmail.com. You can also order one at Amazon.com, BN.com or hanksilverberg.books.com)
Book Synopsis: The Vice-President of the United States is conflicted. She
has risen to her current job by jumping on the bandwagon with President Andrew
Freeman who is now, waging war against America’s biggest enemy—Iran. Amy Roosevelt must
make a decision whether to stay with Freeman or challenge him for the
nomination. Through back channels she
learns that the President’s health is declining. As Roosevelt ponders her decision, a
conservative back bench Congressman from Missouri breaks out of the wanna-bees
in the other party and also decides to run. All this plays out
as the man known only as Ishmael, continues his campaign of violence.
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