Some might see this as a blessing. If all these agencies are "nonessential" then why don't we just leave them shut down. But we've already decided we're going to pay those people anyway once we get over this shutdown. They are going to get paid for this time off, but we won't just go ahead and pay them now. Neither will we let them come back to work, even though the law now says we will pay them. Wouldn't it make more sense to pay them now and have them actually do something for the good of the country? No, because when your budget is in a deficit, it makes more sense to just throw that money away.
And now they say we might default on our loans because we can't add new debt. How does that make sense? New debt is for new expenses. Paying interest on new debt is not new debt. We shouldn't even be accumulating new debts because Congress has not authorized the government to spend money. That's why it shut down. But I digress.
It's my fault anyway. I shut down the government of the United States of America. Well, I got a little help from our elected officials and my 300 million compatriots. But we did it. Our elected officials are just doing what we elected them to do. They reflect our own idiocy. They represent us well.
I think the biggest tragedy of the "partial government shutdown" would be for us to sit and yell at our television screens for hours and never spend five minutes in front of a mirror examining our own complicity. We, Americans, Republican, Democrat, rich, poor, we made this mess, because we are the mess.
And so I want to share a few observations I have made. Far from a comprehensive list, these are a few lessons I have learned about myself, and my fellow Americans from the government shutdown of 2013. Maybe they will get you thinking a little.
It's easier to slap on a band-aid than heal someone.
It's not that God hasn't given us the ability to heal. We possess knowledge in many arts and sciences that are amazingly useful and practical. We can heal people, and we can heal systems. We could make the government run in a way that is less dramatic, more efficient, and probably a lot cheaper to run. But that would be such a big change. It's much easier to just make minor adjustments, to put band-aids on massive hemorrhages and hope the next Congress also votes to raise the debt ceiling when the time comes.
But we are no better. When our lives seem to be hopelessly headed in a wrong direction, we don't stop and examine ourselves. We adjust something here and tweak something there and hope it all works out. We do it with our finances, with our careers, with our relationships. Then we wonder why they keep failing.
Bad news makes us feel better about ourselves.
The story of the shutdown has been one of rumors and slander. Doomsday prophets tell us with glee how this crisis will destroy our economy, our country, and possibly even the world. And it's all the other side's fault.
Rather than seeing the other side as human beings, we have demonized them in every way. That is why politicians can't get together. Who would negotiate with demons? Our mass media is primarily funded from this kind of behavior. It's also the means by which most of our officials procured their office.
It's said that no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, but that simply isn't true. We love to gossip up those who have gone astray. We love to share the juicy details of their faults. It does not make us better people, it just shows us that we are better than someone else, and that is good enough for us. As long as we are better than murderers and thieves and that tax collector standing over there, we feel pretty good about ourselves.
We don't value experience
60% of Americans want to vote all incumbents out of office(1). After all, they aren't doing their job. But we often forget how many incumbents we have voted out of office. We also forget that it is largely first term congresspeople who are leading these stubborn ideological fights. Veteran congresspeople are the ones moving to the middle and trying to come up with a compromise for the common good. (I realize this is a generalization and there are exceptions.). Our Government needs people with experience.
Americans are notoriously individualistic. Like Franks Sinatra, we want to do it "my way." We don't like to listen to the wisdom of our elders. And we suffer for it. We can't keep recreating society, and we can't keep recreating ourselves. Our parents are not perfect, but they have important lessons to offer us. Our clergy, are imperfect, but they have walked with a lot of people through a lot of difficult situations, seek their wisdom. Seek the advice of the older people in your group.Seek mentorship. Hang out at a nursing home, not just to give back, but to gain. We need people with experience. If we don't learn this soon we will doom ourselves to repeating all the mistakes of past generations.
The buck stops somewhere else.
Congress blames the President. The President blames Congress. Republicans blame Democrats. Democrats blame Republicans. Everyone blames the media. Ironically, any one of these entities has the power to end this crisis, and does not. Perhaps they have a good reason for keeping it going, but rather than fess up to it, they just pass the blame.
But who are we to say any different. We just blame the "government" as if we did not elect them. It is the government's responsibility to feed people, and provide housing, and healthcare, and to wipe their noses when they get drippy. Whenever anything goes well, it is in spite of the government, and whenever something goes wrong - like a hurricane - it is the government's fault. I am not making a political point about our form of government. I am making a point about how we govern our own lives.
We have forgotten how to take responsibility for our actions, and so we should expect no better of our elected officials.
The Government is not the answer.
More than anything, this time of earthly crisis reminds me that my kingdom is not of this world. Far from an excuse to disengage and isolate myself from the problems of my fellow humans. It it is the freedom to act boldly to come to their aid. It reminds me that no matter how screwed up our earthly government gets, Right will prevail in the end. God wins! Keep up the good fight!
Let's take responsibility for what we've done and learn from it. Rather than rant about our broken political system,and the politicians you hate, take a cue from Michael Jackson.
"If you wanna make the world
A better place
Take a look at yourself
Then make a change." (2)
(1) According to an NBC/WSJ Poll on October 10, 2013, 60% of Americans want to recall the entire congress. http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/10/20903531-nbcwsj-poll-60-percent-say-fire-every-member-of-congress
(2) "Man in the Mirror" was written by Glen Ballard and Seidah Garrett, but made popular by Michael Jackson
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