It pains me to write this post because it is an admission that the U.S. Democratic process is no longer working not because democracy doesn’t work but because our Congress refuses to work. We the American people have allowed the United State’s Congress to comport themselves like children. If I were to go to work and not do anything except for cause strife, argue with others, and not get anything done I would get fired. Period. End of story.
I’m embarrassed when I watch our Congress and you should be too. But, I’m embarrassed because we let this go on for so long. Both parties are filled with too much ego and not enough love for the People. I have a political science degree and had seriously considered going into politics until a series of unbelievable political events shook my faith in politics.
We the People are clearly NOT angry enough with our elected leaders and haven’t felt enough pain yet. When elected officials are yelling at one another but we get everything we need it’s easy to tune out what they’re doing. When we stop getting what we need-then the sh$t hits the fan.
The sh$t needs to hit the fan because our leaders aren’t taking us and our needs seriously. There are so many ways to cut the budget before even touching The Affordable Care Act. No, I don’t call it Obamcare because I find it highly derogatory as people call it that as a swear word.
The irony of all of this is that Congress already gets the benefits that the American people are fighting for. Representatives have access to:
- Health Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Paid Travel
- Pension Plan
Why can’t we have the same? We pay taxes too.
Let’s be honest the Affordable Care Act is not, I repeat, not perfect. And anyone with common sense knows that it is in its first iteration. If it changes the following things I will be happy:
- Allowing people to have health insurance when they have a pre-existing condition. This is part of the ACA.
- Allowing adult children to continue to be covered on their parent’s insurance until the age of 26. This is a part of the ACA and has already been rolled out.
- Allowing people access to medical care
- Encouraging people to get preventive medical care for free or at a nominal cost. This is what is in the act.
Instead of focusing on eliminating this specific program I have a number of things that Congress could be doing to cut down on the expense of running the government. Here is my list:
- Stop buying so many office supplies. Teachers have to buy school supplies and office supplies. I think that our officials should start purchasing their own damn supplies.
- Start turning off lights in all buildings.
- Take a 5% pay cut. I don’t see this happening.
- Consolidate business buildings and sell buildings that are unnecessary-after making sure that important security documents are taken out of the building
- Stay out of unnecessary wars. They are expensive.
- Foreign Aid-Stop helping everyone else…we need to help ourselves. This one is harsh. It’s the truth. People don’t want our “help” so, let’s stop helping other countries out. Let’s use our money for our country.
- Building a ridiculous wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The wall in Israel doesn’t work, neither will ours.
- Fire people. It’s amazing how people getting fired in the office will make people step up their game.
- Incentivize doing a good job within departments
- Stop providing coffee/sugar/snacks to offices
- Cut office food budgets in all offices by 50%
- Food stamp program-Start large scale community gardens in every city in America and use that food to supplement the food stamps. Have food stamp recipients log in 10-15 hours a month working in the gardens. Helping people learn a skill, reconnect with the earth, and relearn how to cook with real food, I have had an amazing experience gardening this year and I was really transformed by the experience.
- Cut the travel incentives for Congress
Let’s have Congress live on minimum wage for 3 months and rely on some of the services that the Government offers. Let’s see what they say after those three months.
At the end of the day, we need to get angry enough that our collective voices will be heard over the shouting voices of Congress. They aren’t hearing us and we aren’t really feeling the pain of their negligence. It sucks though because the people hardest hit are the ones who really can’t afford this.
Things that will be affected if the government shuts down**
- All National Parks will close
- WIC-Food program for Women Infants and Children may lose funding
- Furloughs for large numbers of Federal staff
- Delayed paychecks for Federal Staff
- FHA Mortgage loan processing delays
- Federal Museums
**All facts were taken off the Business Insider website**
Is the Republican party’s loathing of President Obama so out of control that they are willing to hurt millions of people to prove a point when they could be doing so many other things to cut the budget while having respectful and substantive dialogue with their Democratic colleagues to change the ACA.
Is the Democratic party’s role as the grand savior of all people keeping them looking at ways to empower people while advocating for them and helping people out at the same time?
Both parties are getting on my last nerve. No lie. Get set for the shut down. I’m betting on 24 days. Hopefully, the Government will open up by the October 25, 2013…I’m supposed to go to Yellowstone National Park. Am selfish. And maybe that’s the problem we only care about what affects us personally. That’s shallow and lame, and maybe, just maybe we need to think about what’s really important.
Aren’t they tired of all of the drama? I am. How can they continue to work like this?
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Very well spoken Michelle! I’m concerned too (I work for the government) and their selfish ways are gonna hurt a LOT of people and families! it’s so sad.
I hoped, really hoped, that Congress would put ego aside and do the right thing. It’s clear that they need us to actually get really angry, really angry with them so that they see that they can’t continue to play these games with the American public anymore.
Yikes. I’m not so sure stopping foreign aid is the answer but I would have to agree with all of the other things. They all add up! Even the little things.
I know that’s an extreme solution, but I’m sick of everyone bitching about the U.S. and how awful we are. Also, I’m sick of people in countries that receive substantial foreign aid from us then saying how much they hate the U.S. Fine-we’ll take our money and leave you to it.
This shutdown makes me so angry. We elect those fools to do a job and if they can’t do it they should be fired. Our government officials have their own set of rules and exceptions that only apply to them and it’s not right, not fair. Nobody else could pull this non-sense and not lose their job. And selfishly I’m even more angry about the shutdown because we’re waiting on my grandfather’s passport to plan our vacation.
I think that Congress shouldn’t be paid during a government shut down. I think that they should feel the pain of not being paid. Unfortunately, several of the Colorado delegation is so rich that they won’t notice the difference. I am so sick of the dysfunction and the vitriol that Congress is slinging back and forth. The last time I checked if I acted like this at work I would be fired. The thing that sucks is that a number of defenseless people are going to be hurt in the process. This also will reinforce my focus on getting my emergency fund fully funded.