I Got Called On My Post Last Night

Last night, I wrote a blog post with the following headline: “At This Point, Why Not Just Give Him The Dam Wall Already“.

Today, I was called out on my post.

To be honest, the post was written out of sheer frustration. The fact that this stalemate continues without the needle moving in either direction is more than frustrating. It makes me want to tear my hair out.

The problem still lies with you know who. Even if both houses of Congress and both political parties were able to come together on a bill to reopen the government, it is still contingent on you know whose signature. Without that signature, the bill is DOA.

Now he is denying that he said that Mexico would pay for the wall. I don’t know what is worse, his claims that he didn’t say what we all heard him say or his lies.

The truth is that the ripple effects of this shutdown expand beyond the paychecks of government workers. Miami airport had to close a terminal due to a lack of TSA staff. The FDA is unable to ensure that what we are putting in our bodies will not send us to the hospital or the grave. Visitors at the Joshua Tree National Park are cutting down trees because the staff that patrols the park is few and far between.

But while this is happening, members of Congress continue to receive a paycheck and Mitch McConnell is not helping by standing by and doing nothing. In fact, they went home this weekend, flying through airports with less TSA staff and air traffic controllers (who are also government employees) either furloughed or working without a paycheck.

Why should these people continue to receive their paychecks while hundreds of thousands of Americans are not receiving theirs due to an adult temper tantrum? They earn their salaries because we hired them. We can easily fire them come the next election cycle. They should not be earning their paychecks until the government has reopened.

Like all of you, I am a human being. And, like all humans, when I am angry or frustrated, I say things that I would not said under calmer circumstances.

There is an old Chinese curse:

“May you live in interesting times,”

Interesting is not the word I would use to describe the times we live in.

 

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