If you’re a political junky, your social media feeds and email inbox are full of “takes” on the government shut down. Here are some titles from my inbox:
- “Six Reasons to Not Extend the Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies”
- “Shutdown Showdown: Why Fiscal Discipline Can’t Wait”
- “#38 – 42% of Americans Want a Bipartisan Solution to the Shutdown. So What Gives?”
- “Will a government shutdown finally shrink government?”
I’ll grant that most of my sources are libertarian-leaning. But some of the headlines from my non-partisan sources include:
That’s the only one I found six days into the shutdown and no one was reporting on it except the partisan analysts I listed above. Apparently, things are getting more intense with hallway confrontations replacing floor debate (link).
On the social media side, I have takes from Senator Rand Paul, who has taken up X as his new occupation while on furlough, mostly he’s talking about his Six Penny Plan and reducing government spending. And Marjorie Taylor Greene who is talking about insurance being unaffordable and wishing her party were working on that. And Jo Jorgensen replying to Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer regarding her declaration of a Golden Age of economic prosperity. Spoiler: we’re not there.
Lots of takes. Except on Instagram which is 90% Taylor Swift’s new album.
So…. is anyone not getting their mail? Are there critical services not being delivered? Does anyone even notice the federal government isn’t operating?
There are people not working, and that first missed paycheck in a week or so will probably be a problem. Maybe the mainstream media’s nightly news coverage is counting the days? Maybe every day they’re featuring a new government employee who is worried. I wouldn’t know. Like 243 million other American adults, I’m not watching nightly news.
The rest of the shutdown story is about what we would expect it to be about: Partisan Theater. Government Shutdown has become just another tactic in the drama. Like Sunday morning news shows, social media streams, and photo opps, the government shutdown is just another ploy to outmaneuver competitors.
It’s ridiculous.
Do your job. Figure out spending, approve a budget, fund the government and get on with the next set of work. The power plays and control tactics are at best annoying and at worst a gross dereliction of duty.
But then, maybe they are doing their job. Maybe the real job of our elected officials is getting elected, holding power, maintaining their positions. And maybe to do that, they must fundraise. Individually and as a whole party, maybe they need the drama and the news cycle and the constant engagement to fundraise. Like influencers creating new content hourly, daily, weekly, to stay in front of their audiences and make themselves relevant and valuable to advertisers. Maybe our elected officials are just attention mercenaries.
Lawmaking, government oversight, sound fiscal policy, responsible stewardship of our national investments in education, healthcare, retirement, infrastructure, technology, maybe all of those things are secondary to likes and clicks and shares and impressions. Maybe our lawmakers are pets on the wheel, churning for funds to pay for more advertising, more consulting, more game-playing by the industry’s best consultants and analysts.
Our lawmakers have their priorities wrong.
A government shutdown, the ultimate evidence that government is not working is proof the people we elected can’t be trusted to do their jobs.
But, really, who’s paying attention anymore? Like everything else, attention has become too expensive.
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