Sorry - I was not clear. I meant “life-threatening” in the sense that our Government’s existence is not threatened here. I expressed it poorly. There’s not going to be an armed insurrection or anything - probably not even if we go into default. I’m saying that I think Americans will use the elections to effect regime change - not immediate actions like strikes or riots - which is why, imo, outsiders in this thread get the impression that we don’t care.
We do care. And I’m aware that a truly stupid number of individuals are threatened personally by this. And I agree (and hope!) that congress suffers for it. But we’re not going to be hanging them from the lampposts.
Well, of course people are fairly “meh” about a shutdown of nonessential services. If you never watched the panda-cam, and didn’t plan to visit any federal museums or national parks, and don’t much care how many of the First Lady’s assistants are still showing up for work – well, then, how would you even know about the partial shutdown if not for the internet, and TV, and radio, and newspapers, and all the rest that’s open for business as usual?
My mail is still being delivered; cops and firefighters and teachers are still on duty; and everywhere I go in the private sector, I’m surrounded by folks who’ve naturally kept doing their jobs; for them, and for me, it’s as if nothing has changed.
(That linked bit about ten kids a week missing out on NIH treatment is admittedly sobering – but that same link promptly spells out how the NIH’s media office is currently down thirty-seven nonessential employees, which sounds like something straight out of Douglas Adams, what with public-relations executives on the B ark, and philosophers threatening to go on strike, and et cetera, forever and ever, amen.)
There are always two sides to the problem, but in this conflict of a government shut down, with the debt ceiling crisis vote just 12 days away, we won’t really know which side is right and which side is wrong till all the dust clears.
Saying that the elections will cast the bums out isn’t going to work either, because that’s what they said last time.
The shut down is in the news and it is not hurting me so therefore I am not throwing any stones …
History is in the making with “obamacare” being what they will talk about for decades.
Most people are “meh” because despite all the normal wailing and gnashing of teeth, the FedGov has little day-to-day impact on most (say, 85%+) Americans. We continue our lives as we always have, and nothing has changed for the most part at ground level. Although Libs would like to paint it such that every single person in the US is dependent on Washington, things like this actually show that the vast majority aren’t, and don’t care. All Washington does is take our money, and they’re still doing that despite the “shutdown”. Ask a random sampling of 100 people today how badly there were affected by the Sequester - I doubt you’ll find many who even know it happened, for the same reason.
That, and since the “shutdown” doesn’t include any “essential” departments or programs, the government is hardly shut down in any meaningful sense. That’s why all you see/hear is bitching about the National Parks and 20 cancer-kids; great visuals, guaranteed to stir up partisans… and completely non-essential.
Yes, didn’t you hear about the NIH dust-up about caner trials affecting like 20 patients? Harry Reid didn’t seem to think even one was worth worrying about, so clearly non-essential.
Would someone that is not completely tone deaf please explain why dismissing sick children as ‘cancer-kids’ is problematic and completely damning? I’d do it myself, but I have to facepalm for a few minutes here.
Maybe you’d be better off explaining why Harry Reid blocking individual funding for NIH that would allow the trials to continue is the right and moral thing to do rather than using this “shutdown” to try to score political points, but no - of course not.
Point stands thought - the vast majority of Americans are not affected in the day to day lives when the government is running at it’s usual efficiency, so when it’s not, the vast majority of Americans don’t notice or care. This is as it should be.
I find it very interesting that Obama has directed closure of open-air memorials and the parking lot at Mount Vernon (which is privately owned). Probably costs more to shut down something that’s normally open 24hrs a day than to barricade them. Seems extremely petty to me and an attempt to make tourists feel the “pain” of a closed government.
The House has passed a bill to fund the research at NIH to continue with these clinical trials. Of course the Senate is demanding a full open government or nothing. The Senate Dems will be responsible if any child dies due to lack of funding for NIH.
If a bank robber takes a group of people hostage and threatens to kill one of the hostages - a child - unless the police provide a getaway car, it’s not the police’s fault if/when the robber follows through.
Sen. Reid has no control over whether John Boehner will allow a vote in the House over a bill already approved by the Senate to allow government funding. I’ve explained my exceptions to the Speaker, but he won’t take my calls, given that I’m a Democratic voter from Illinois. Shucks. Maybe I oughta recruit a few of them there ‘cancer-kids’ for a quick photo-op.
We are a very divided nation, the people shutting down the government get 45%+ of the vote each election. So its not like we are being conquered by a foreign invasion force, these are the people we elect.
You can keep repeating that if you wish, but the vast majority of Americans won’t believe it. Just because you don’t believe the polls doesn’t mean they aren’t right. This is the Republican Shutdown, and all the consequences are theirs to bear.
That’s delusional. You’re suggesting a level of micro managing that is asinine.
Also, the shutdown is hurting more than those 20 cancer kids. There are numerous drug trials and thousands of other programs that are helping people survive.
The GOP is hurting perhaps millions of Americans, and they fixate on the cute 20 because they make a nice photo OP.
The only thing passing a law specifically for those 20 would do, is lower public pressure for the GOP to stop hurting the millions of other people that they’re hurting right fucking now.
Also, they changed the classification so those dudes are “essential” now.
The problem is that there are only two ways this ends: if extremely conservative Republicans in a few dozen extremely conservative districts tell their Representatives that they want this to end, or if enough other Republicans decide they need to end this because it’s incredibly irresponsible or because it might leave them open to a challenge from a Democrat in their next campaign. It’ll happen eventually, and the sense that this is not going to last forever may be keeping people’s frustration in check. This is a matter of when, not if.
And the entire government has not shut down. Large parts of some federal agencies are closed, but others aren’t affected as much and others are open with staff (for now) unpaid. This is a big deal and an enormously stupid event, but the OP may be overestimating the immediate effects. It’s very bad news if you have a “non-essential” job with the government or if you are receiving assistance through a lot of federal programs. For instance there’s a food and nutrition program for women and infants that serves 9 million people and isn’t being funded, though it can keep operating for a few more weeks. Keep that in mind when someone tries some desperate nonsense like this:
Keep hope alive, man! If you say this often enough and clap your hands and believe in fairies, people will definitely believe this and forget that Republicans have been bragging for months that they were going to shut down the government so they could stop a program that offers health insurance! Keep trying!
::collapses laughing::
It seems to me that Democrats focused on this first. Now Republicans are trying to say “uh, it’s their fault!” Nobody’s buying it.
The vast majority of Americans don’t know that Senate refused to approve a bill that would allow funding for that child to receive treatment for cancer. (A bill with nothing else attached to it).
Funny story, actually: the Republicans burned the Democrats on a couple of times with the “how about you guys let us fund popular stuff so people don’t get mad at us for provoking this crisis” trick a couple of times. Now the Democrats have stopped falling for it, and Republicans are just sort of spluttering and groping around for a distraction.
Shout it from the roof tops, it won’t make any difference. This is the Republican Shutdown, and all the consequences will be borne by the Republicans. You are not changing any minds with this silly piecemeal approach. The polls are getting worse for the GOP, not better. The only exit strategy is total and utter capitulation by John Boehner when he throws the Tea Party under the bus and allows a clean CR and a clean debt ceiling increase. That is what I am predicting, and there really isn’t any argument, we’ll just wait until that happens, then you can come back here and admit you were wrong.
No, your post is delusional. We both know what the budget fight is over. The vast majority of the government has nothing to do with ACA. The house can, and has, passed individual spending bills for different departments one at a time. The Senate will refuse to pass them or Obama will veto them, because they want everything or nothing.
I fully realize that the house could, in theory, fund the entire govt. piece-by-piece and leave out any funding for ACA. That is what the Senate Dems fear. That is why they are willing to keep shut all of those programs that are hurting people right fucking now. They are banking on the possibility, probably correct, that the Pubs will get the blame. The Dems don’t give a shit about anything but getting their way and they have proven this by their unwillingness to fund almost anything unless the entire government is reopened under their conditions.