The Government Has Shut Down [01OCT2013]

"What do Democrats get in the "compromise" you speak of ? "

They get the same health rules as the rest of the country

My dad worked for the federal government for 28 years and retired at 50. I didn't notice any difference in his standard of living once he retired so I'm assuming his pension was pretty good. In addition, he was off on the many government holidays and eventually received 5 weeks vacation. Something is seriously wrong when government employees can retire 15 years before normal retirement age. $17 trillion in national debt and almost $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities will eventually fix that, but it will be too late at that point to avoid financial Armageddon. I just heard Spain's debt has reached 100% of GDP. Merle would say "we're rolling down hill like a snowball headed for hell".

Actually shutting down the Government is unprecedented. It has happened only one other time, and that time it didn't turn out so good for the Republicans.

Every elected official has nonpolitical duties that they must do as part of their office. If your an elected Sheriff for example you catch bad guys and respond to accidents. Congress critters are supposed to do their part to make sure the government runs and that government has the funds to pay its bills. These are considered non-political functions and they always have been in the past. So what Republicans are doing is akin to an elected Sherriff shutting down the Sherriff's office and refusing to respond to accidents or arrest bad guys until the County Council passes him a raise. In other words they are refusing to work unless their demands are met.

Even though it is not appropriate to negotiate to get them to perform the functions of their office as PJ has suggested there have been no attempts at compromising Republicans are simply issuing a series of demands. If Obama and the Democrats give in what you would be left with is a Government by a Political Junta. The Senate and The President would be Subsurivent to the hard line conservatives in the House of Representatives and they aren't even a majority in their own caucus.

The latest polling I have seen shows only 22% of Americans support the Republicans in this matter and even a small majority of Republicans do not support the Republicans in this matter. I'd suggest some of the conservatives read up on what that shut down is costing the taxpayers per-day and per-week.

you keep blaming obama for everything, yet were we any better when the repubs were in power? maybe you were but a majority of us weren't. I think that the repubs lost the white house - twice - because the population didn't think the repubs were doing a good job at running the country. then you have the idiot tea partiers, no wonder the repubs aren't in favor right now. so keep on blaming obama for all the troubles, the rest of us know that no matter who is in office, there will always be one crisis or another.

The National Guard is without pay in West Virginia:

https://www.statejournal.com/story/23583449/guard-leader-in-charleston-wv-struggles-with-local-impact-of-government-shut-down

Congressional Republicans are trying to pass numerous Bills to provide funding for:
__National Guard and Military Reserves
__National Park Service
__National Institute of Health
__Veterans Affairs [The Veteran Hospitals and Medical Facilities are already funded]
__Authorization for the District of Columbia to resume Government Functions with their own taxes.

Earlier Congressional Democrats agreed to funding the DOD and the troops in this fashion.
But now Congressional Democrats oppose any additional funding.

* * * EDITED TO ADD * * *

"President Barack Obama would veto piecemeal bills that would restore funding only to certain parts of the government like federal parks, veterans programs and the District of Columbia rather than a broad government spending bill, White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said on Tuesday."
Ref: Huffington Post

...

Piecemeal bills should be vetoed. I think Don Diego has lost site of the larger issue. This is a Constitutional Crisis. What the House Republicans are attempting is simply a Coup d'état. Passing piecemeal bills that would open only parts of the Government that the tea party House members like or giving them victories on issues they can't win thorough the normal political process permanently emasculates the executive branch and the Senate. In other words the President and members of the Senate would become nothing more than nominal figureheads with no political power. The final say on every conceivable issue the Government faces would be decided on the whims and fancies of the Tea Party members of the house.

That's not how the Constitution reads and in our entire History as a Nation that is never how it worked. You can't negotiate with terrorists it only gives them more power over you.

Very well said!

Thank You