The Parallel Arcs of Hunger and the Government Shutdown

It is estimated that when hydrated - water is yet another story - most people can last 1 to 2 months without food.  Of course, children and people with special circumstances or specific conditions do require nourishment sooner. If food is withheld: There is pain on day one; hunger pangs, the body signaling that it needs fuel but able to continue. As the days drag on, there will be medical issues, and behavioral problems including lack of concentration, fatigue, and finally, death.  

The body politic experiences a government shutdown in much the same way- there was pain on the first day, the horror for the employees who are furloughed and those forced to work, all not knowing when, and if, they will be paid. Despite these warning pangs, the basic functions continue, but as the days progress, the problems will continue to grow in scope and severity.  People will see basic services affected and even taken away.  Many vital governmental functions, operating quietly in the background, and thus hidden from public view, will manifest as system breakdowns.

As we’ve covered multiple times, a large number of public workers, along with the public at-large were barely surviving. Now, with rising inflation, the costs of the tariffs and a possible looming recession the situation is exacerbated. Federal workers not getting paid affects not just every aspect of their lives and their families, but ripples out to businesses and people who earn their living servicing government employees who will also face economic hardships if not massive financial collapse. The precarity inflicted on federal workers will reverberate throughout the country as economic interdependence gets hammered. The arc of hunger and the shutdown will also intersect over and over again, as the current cruel/corrupt/and unconstitutional actions generate further disasters, like the trump administration’s (illegal) decision to not use contingency funds to pay for food stamps in November. A program which last year, was used by over 41.7 million people to keep from going hungry.

And what is Congress doing as their federal workers literally go hungry and unpaid? Oh, that’s right, they’re hiding from installing the newly elected Democrat from Arizona who will provide the needed vote to release the Epstein files! Thanks Mike Johnson.  Just like Jesus wanted. And the Founding Fathers.  And her constituents.  And the Epstein victims.  /s

The most important job of the Senate and House is to be an equal part (and first among equals at that) in the triad of the balance of power. The 535 (voting) folks elected to represent their constituents and if in leadership, the nation writ large, should not roll over and play dead for any president, especially this one. Your duties are carefully set forth:

Congress- you regulate foreign commerce which should mean tariffs. It is within your purview to declare war. It is not an emergency when the president is bombing Venezuelan boats he says without evidence, are part of a drug cartel. Reclaim your role.  Now.

Your major annual task is to pass a budget. Not one stripping people of Medicaid and school lunches, but one that serves all the people and keeps the government running. Of course even when the budget isn’t passed, Senators and Representatives continue to draw a nice salary, with great health insurance and other benefits, before we even get to the “side gigs” that often pay more than we pay you. Which perhaps explains why Congress feels so little pressure to re-open.

Let’s be clear though, even if only through abdication, you have failed. As a body, and as individual members.  

Instead of using their power to impeach, try and convict this rogue President committing high crimes and misdemeanors, Congress allows Russ Vought, a man who hates government so much that he joined it with the explicit aim to destroy it, heads up the Department of Management and Budget  (OMB). Mission almost accomplished.  He gets aroused thinking of federal employees waking up in terror and fearing for their jobs.  That is more than 700 thousand people he wants to hurt.

Right now, a more equitable budget must be amended and the shutdown ended.  But if we are basing pay on performance then most of the people in the Congress need to have their salaries rescinded. While federal workers worry about paying their bills, the president in a deranged deja vu of let them eat cake is destroying part of the White House- the People's House- and building a golden ballroom. Without congressional approval or any input from historical and architectural experts.  Or anyone who knows how to build things.

Yes, renovations are needed. And yes, President Obama did spend hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure repair and upgrades.  After getting approval from the Congress.  Prompted by a report from the Bush administration that called for this action.  It was not funded by greedy crypto and tech bros wanting some quid pro quo.

In the past, with all this illegal activity one might expect a lawsuit, but in the new Trump bizzarro reality, it’s the convicted criminal/president who has sued us! Or more accurately, the DOJ is claiming that Trump was unfairly persecuted or prosecuted during his first term. The decision will be made by his former personal attorney and the lickspittle AG.  Any safeguards?  Um, Trump has to sign off on this.  I wonder what he will decide. He promises he will donate the money to charity.  Says the man who stole from children with cancer and had his own foundation shut down for fraud.

In this age of massive economic disparity, brazen corruption, incompetence and greed leading to higher prices on everything; financial heft is crucial for generating change. Protest – please - and carry an economic cudgel.  Don't beg and plead.  These elected officials theoretically work for us, and they are lousy employees. Restart government.  Provide all back pay. And do your (censored) jobs. For all of us, join a growing, vibrant movement uniting people and issues

Don't Shop on Tuesday.  

#DSOT