Op-ed: The Federal Government Shutdown

Just Say No to a Zombie Infested Washington

By Brainy Bird
QuailBellMagazine.com

The eeriness of a post-apocalyptic zombie attack is only appealing when confined to science fiction and horror lit. It does not make for an enviable reality. With the federal government shutdown, Washington, D.C. will soon become a ghost town unless the GOP grows up and accepts the Affordable Cafe Act. The shutdown affects every single person in the United States, from that fetus hanging out in its mother's womb to the old man about to croak “Buenas noches” from his rocking chair. If you think you're somehow spared, you're fooling yourself.

Yesterday CNN.com released a list called, “Government shutdown: What's closed, what's open?” In case you're too lazy/depressed to read it, guess what? All the national monuments are closed. Even the Department of Homeland Security is partially closed. Want to go to the Smithsonian? Too bad. They're C-L-O-S-E-D. If someone decides to commit fraud in the U.S. Postal Service, that's also too bad for anyone hoping the crook gets caught. After all, the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General is closed. The rocket scientists get no special treatment, either. 97% of NASA employees are stuck at home, forbidden to work and forced to live off personal savings because they cannot collect pay checks during the shutdown. Oh, and here's a good one: the Office of Government Ethics is also—shocker!—closed.

There's a fine line between a government that serves and protects and a government that imposes. Presidents like Frankie Roosevelt and Billy Boy Clinton (and their administrations) were smart to recognize how the government can function to do the former. It's because of the federal government that we have programs like Social Security and Peace Corps and treasures like the National Gallery of Art and Yellowstone National Park.

The government is not perfect and, sure, it likely throws away a lot of money every year, particularly toward war efforts, but pretty much the most un-American thing you can do right now is root for the GOP's continued temper tantrum. Get off your tail feathers and do something about it.