One second after midnight, October 1, 2013 will be remembered as a dark (pun intended) time in American history. The last time the United States shut down the federal government was in 1995 and it lasted 22 days, according to political website Policymic. You can refresh yourself on all of the gory details here and see how things were eventually resolved. And there is good reason to relive that era of our political befuddlement because as philosopher George Santayana so eloquently put it “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”; alas, and so it appears we have. At least we have begun to repeat it with the shutdown of what have been deemed the non-essential services of our federal government. Although I am positive the missing work pay is considered very essential to the affected families.
So after 18 years for congress to ponder, rethink, and improve their professional communications and interactions, guess what? We have allowed the government to again shut down, largely over arguments about Obamacare. I say we because we the people elect the good congressmen and women who believe in a government “for the people”, but we are also responsible for electing the people who say my way or the highway and fiddle while Rome is burning. If we learn nothing else from this fiasco, let us think long are hard as we enter the voting booths in the future. Let us remember who really represented their constituents’ best interests versus who had tunnel vision for their own agendas regardless of how many innocent everyday workers became collateral damage.
One thing we must remember is that any nation considered as great and powerful a leader as the United States is always under the microscope of the world. I shudder to think that Syria and their friends might be laughing at us this morning. After all, a few weeks back we all but hog-tied and forced them to negotiate on a world stage or else. Yet our own House and Senate of Congress could not or would not negotiate with each other in our own backyard, over business pertaining to us right here in this country. Let us do better ladies and gentleman of the Congress. Our neighbors are watching. And may God Bless America.
