We have
all heard the philosophical question, “If a tree falls in the woods and no one
is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?”, however, even if the
statement is not familiar to you, a version of the same thing seems to be
happening with our government. The shutdown of the U.S. Government may make big
news on cable TV; however, locally is it making barely more than a ripple.
The budget woes are due to Congress
Republicans and Senate Democrats along with the Obama Administration not
agreeing on the fate of the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare. The
Democrats say that the health care act is the law of the land and is as much a
part of the government as anything else. The Republicans call Obamacare an
overpriced, train wreck that will damage the country and the health care
system. It is the hope of the Republicans that Obamacare will be defunded and
help produce the first fiscal budget in nearly 8 years without wrecking our
economy even more.
With the disagreement of the budget,
the government ran out of time and was forced to close down some of their
offices. The shutdown of certain branches of the United States Government,
depending on your view, has either been a travesty or a great way to reduce an
already overbearing government and find out what services we really need and
which ones we can do without.
Some of the government services that
have been affected by the “Battle of the Budget” are call centers, hotlines and
regional offices that help veterans understand their benefits, all of America’s
national parks and monuments are closed, new applications for small business
loans and loan guarantees will stop, and research into life-threatening
diseases and other areas will stop, according to www.usa.gov/shutdown.shtml.
Some of those areas may affect the
LBCC students, staff and faculty, but for the most part the hype seems confined
to the East Coast and people directly connected to government jobs. For those
students on campus who maybe worrying about financial aid, the LBCC Financial
Aid Office tells us things are still going ok. Elaine Robinson of financial aid
says, “It’s still business as usual. We are keeping a close eye for whatever
happens. Until then, we don’t know and we keep on processing loans”.
So for those of us not directly
involved with the government in some way life goes on unscathed and without the
doom and gloom cable TV and the Democrat law makers made it out to be. Actually
many key government services still go on.
People on social security will
continue to receiving checks, postal service will continue, active military
will continue to guard our country, air traffic controllers, prison guards, and
border patrol agents will keep working and NASA will continue to monitor the
Universal Space Station. If more information is needed on what government services
are closed because of the shutdown, you can call toll-free at 1-800-FED-INFO
(1-800-333-4636). And yes, the number will be operational during the government
shutdown.
Whatever your opinion may be on
Obamacare, one thing is for sure, the new health care act is the primary cause
for the budget ailments. The Republicans try to pass bills to keep key services
open for the public during this troubling time; however, Democrats seem to
think it’s “all or nothing”. So for those who blame the Republicans for the shutdown,
remember, not one single Republican voted for the law. It was passed with a
Democrat majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
No matter whom the blame falls on
for the shutdown or whether or not you support Obamacare, I just have one question;
does the government shutdown really affect you? If a government office in
Washington D.C. closes and we here on the West Coast are not directly affected
does it really matter?
Maybe
this government shutdown is just what we need to weed out the worthless government
offices and services that do nothing for the country but waist money. Just think of how much money could be saved if
we could “trim the fat” from our Federal Government and perhaps fix the
economy.
Dkhummel.com,
dkhummel.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment