It is government shutdown season. If by Friday, April 28, a funding bill is not signed by President Donald Trump, then the government will shut down.
Every year it seems like the government is about to shut down. Every cable news network tries to portray the shutdowns and potential shutdowns as a coming of the purge.
When the government shuts down, funding does not get distributed to government agencies. People don’t get paid and government programs don’t get funded. The only people that get paid are cable news networks and their “political commentators” who analyze the situation and then yell at each other for hours.
Since 1976, when the Congressional Budget Act took effect, there have been 18 government shutdowns. Most didn’t last any longer than five days. The longest was 21 days under President Bill Clinton, though most of it was because of the Christmas break.
The most recent was in 2013, which rose out of the reluctance of Republicans to pass anything related to Obamacare.
Congress reminds me of a really bad rap battle. Both sides end up bobbing their heads up and down, saying “yeah” about 20 times, rapping two mediocre disses, repeating a lyric from an older song and then going back to their corners to be cheered on by their friends for their “talent.”
Unlike a bad rap battle, the audience of Congress — citizens — can’t walk away and go do something else.
The main problems with this particular funding bill involve defense spending, Obamacare and funding for the border wall, among countless other things. The border wall and defense spending are both unnecessary and a waste of tax dollars. Obamacare, on the other hand, is the arch-nemesis of Republicans in Congress. Republicans, the party that preaches about the sanctity of life, also can’t stand people getting affordable health insurance.
Now what does the impending shutdown tell us about our government? The cliché and common answer would be that Americans are divided among ideological lines. This is true. Americans are more divided than ever, and that’s saying something considering America was literally divided in the 1800s.
However, the ideological argument is problematic. As can be seen by watching any Republican town hall meeting, citizens that are Republicans aren’t the ideologues that their representatives are.
I believe the real cause of the potential shutdown is a party relationship problem. Republicans may not agree with Trump, but they don’t want to divide the party even more. The Republican party is already ideologically divided among Tea Party (Freedom Caucus) conservatives, establishment Republicans and Trump Republicans.
Democrats have tried compromising, which can be seen by how much the party has been moving toward the center to catch up with Republicans, but do not agree with the subservience to the president argument. Establishment Democrats are also stuck in a world where they think people like them. Democrats are slowly becoming pseudo-Republicans.
It isn’t just about party ideology; it is also about attempted party unity. The budget is the one thing that all Republicans, no matter their ideological bent, can agree on. Democrats don’t agree with them not just because they are the enemy but because they see through the mirage.
While this is a counterintuitive theory, I believe it helps explain why the government may be shutting down. It is about bringing together a fractured party behind something they can agree on against a party that is steadfast on preventing them from passing wasteful spending.
I don’t want the government to shut down and neither does any elected official. But I also do not believe that Congress should pass a wasteful and reckless funding bill. This is a time when Republicans should stick to their anti-government spending bent and admit the border wall and increased military spending are wasteful of the taxpayers’ dollars.
