Apparently Congressional Republicans were going to literally shut down the government to thwart Obamacare. Like a good friend holding the tiny guy back while pumping him up by saying, “Don’t kill him!” Mitt Romney is the only thing stopping a situation he describes thusly: “What would come next when soldiers aren’t paid, when seniors fear for their Medicare and Social Security, and when the FBI is off duty?”
This is the party which nominated the guy whose state-run healthcare plan formed the basis for Obamacare for President. This is the party whose “radical plan,” to get us out of debt only diminished the rate at which we go deeper and deeper into debt. This is the party who, this week, could not get a bill through to reduce spendingbecause “rank-and-file Republicans refused to approve cuts in programs that home-state governors and mayors rely on.”
But rank-and-file Republicans, oh ye of much spine, oh ye of responsible spending, oh ye of limited government, are going to SHUT THE WHOLE THING DOWN over Obamacare. Okay.
Awesomely named Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss joined the fray, warning Republicans that a shutdown is a bad idea because the GOP “got our butts kicked” during the government shutdowns in President Bill Clinton’s administration. Apparently the shutdowns were super unpopular because people get annoyed when their home and small business loans don’t go through. And everyone blamed Republicans for the inconvenience.
While it would seem as a libertarian who wants to see every part of government shut down forevs that I’d be all about it, I have to agree with people who were annoyed in the 90?s. The answer to every government problem really is to cut spending today, cut spending tomorrow and cut spending forever. Temporary shutdowns which annoy civil servants and people who rely on services isn’t a path forward. It’s a political gimmick, and a particularly useless one at that.
This post originally appeared at Thoughts on Liberty.
Ug. They are all the same. I could think of millions of things to cut before cutting pay to our soldiers, yet these clowns, the first thing they would do is cut pay to soldiers because they want to hold the populace captive to their outrageous spending habits. How about we first cut the lifelong pensions to senators? If cuts need to be made let’s start with the Congress.
Exactly. Pure show.
Like Eric Holder’s private jet paid for by us and the private jet for Bo the Obama’s dog. Isn’t it ironic that Obama will take expensive vacation after vacation eschewing the Whirte House at every opportunity, but still allows no public tours of the WH ?
Or the $56 billion that we give each year in foreign (*bribes*) aid.
Obamacare will cost roughly $100 billion a year. And that is a pretty conservative number based off the 10 year cost CBO report. Is saying the government will not be funded until Obamacare is off the books really that bad? If it doesn’t get stopped in this last feasible effort before it kicks in I would find it very unlikely to be removed in the future. It’s not like other means of repealing were not attempted.