One of the many aspects that people either love or hate when living in the Washington DC Metro area is our constant bombardment of information of and about the Government. The constant stream flows from our radios, tvs, cable, computers, phones, tablets, seemingly from the air itself. It keeps us informed and aware of things happening in the government (whether we want to or not). I would even say that most of the people who live in this area work for the government or it has an impact on their work in some way. Its Inside the Beltway at work and normally I kind of enjoy it.
Not now.
Now the government is shutdown and I am angry, and feeling helpless to make a difference in a situation that never should have happened in the first place. This has effected me in so many ways, from the people I love, my family, my friends, acquaintances, all who are on furlough, those working and not getting paid, everyone who is impacted by this idiocy., including myself.
All those wondering how their mortgages will get paid, how will they put food on the table, or even get gas to bring them to the work they are not getting a paycheck for. I see and hear it in the voices of cab drivers and food truck operators with no one to drive or feed, hotels vacant because the tourists have gone home or have cancelled their trips. From the front desk to those cleaning the rooms and hallways, and everyone else involved in the hospitality business, all are impacted, all are hurt.
What about those 30 children just admitted to a new cancer program at NIH, a last hope certainly and one that is frozen along with all the other protocols patients enrolled in specialty care need so desperately. What about that person who needs a serious operation now. It was scheduled then all leave was cancelled, no exclusions, no exemptions. Who looks them in the face and tells them no? Even those hoping to get married or WWII veterans hoping to see their memorial? It’s certainly not the idiot Congress at the helm of this shutdown.
I, along with countless others, have called my representatives, Republican and Democrat, to voice my anger that the needs of the people who put them in office are being ignored, dismissed entirely because our views are not considered important. The phone lines for all, especially the Republicans are constantly busy. And when I did get through, I got a voice mail, saying all mailboxes were full. No one is answering the phones on those offices. But turn a camera in their direction, and they have time to expound on their importance and what they see as their own path to power and glory.
I am embarrassed that those people voted in to help their constituents have decided to help themselves instead. The rank few with their rank view, those petulantly powerful, those gasbags of arrogance who should have been helping the government work has shut it down instead. A fight was picked that they knew they wouldn’t win for the express purpose of shutting the government down. They are confident that they will never have to come face to face with the millions they are hurting in the process.
And they are probably right.
Will they be visiting the people they made homeless? Or those standing in line in the food banks? Those in the hospital and those out of work because they lost their jobs or their businesses? I don’t think so. For these type of people its never their fault. Their self-importance and arrogance overwhelms all else, leaving others to suffer for their selfishness and need for even more power.
The United States Constitution starts out as “We the People”, not We the Few and Powerful. I think those Senators and Representatives who have shut down the government, need to be reminded who and what they represent. They need to sit down and listen as someone reads to them the documents on which our nation and our freedoms are based.
Right before the signatures on the Constitution, the following paragraphs appear:
In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety–perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise expected; and thus, the Constitution which we now present is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession, which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable.
That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every State is not, perhaps, to be expected; but each will, doubtless, consider, that had her interest alone been consulted, the consequences might have been particularly disagreeable or injurious to others; that it is liable to as few exceptions as could reasonably have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the lasting welfare of that Country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish.
Where is their adherence to those words and feelings expressed above? Lacking, tossed aside in favor of their own positions and small minded thoughts.
How sad,, how infuriating, and how un American.
Now for the Week Ahead in Reviews:
Monday, Oct. 8: Northern Star by Ethan Stone
Tuesday, Oct. 9: Starry Knight by T.A. Webb
Wed., Oct. 10: Enigma by Lloyd A. Meeker
Thurs., Oct. 11: The Night Visitor by Ewan Creed
Friday, Oct. 12: Guest Blog by Playing Ball Authors
Sat., Oct. 13: Playing Ball Anthology
