It has been all over the news the last few days.
The deadline of midnight tonight (Friday, April 8, 2011) looms over the political landscape, as a Federal government shutdown becomes a possibility.
In a game of political "Brinksmanship" the Republican-controlled Congress is pushing the Democrat-controlled White House to either make drastic budget cuts, or face the prospect of not getting a mid-year budget passed by the deadline, which will shut down the government.
There are an estimated 800,000 Federal workers who may not go to work on Monday and who face the prospect of going without a paycheck.
- Do you need a passport? Sorry, those Federal workers who process passports are likely going to be considered "non-essential" personnel and they will be sent home if the government shuts down.
- Do you feel like visiting a national monument, or one of the national parks? Sorry, the same goes for the folks who work there.
- April 15 is the deadline for Americans to file their 2010 Federal, State (and for some of us Local) tax returns. If you are scheduled to receive a tax refund and you filed your return electronically, you will likely receive a credit to your account, but if you mailed-in your tax return, you could be waiting for that refund check for a long time.
Politicians are trying to score points for their parties, refusing to compromise, all the while weighing how their actions today will affect their re-election campaigns in the future.
Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of people are holding their breaths, hoping for an avoidance of a government shutdown, quite literally at the eleventh hour.
Is this what they call a Democracy?
I think back to the comedian Johnny Carson and the following line which is attributed to him:
"Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties."
The deadline of midnight tonight (Friday, April 8, 2011) looms over the political landscape, as a Federal government shutdown becomes a possibility.
In a game of political "Brinksmanship" the Republican-controlled Congress is pushing the Democrat-controlled White House to either make drastic budget cuts, or face the prospect of not getting a mid-year budget passed by the deadline, which will shut down the government.
There are an estimated 800,000 Federal workers who may not go to work on Monday and who face the prospect of going without a paycheck.
- Do you need a passport? Sorry, those Federal workers who process passports are likely going to be considered "non-essential" personnel and they will be sent home if the government shuts down.
- Do you feel like visiting a national monument, or one of the national parks? Sorry, the same goes for the folks who work there.
- April 15 is the deadline for Americans to file their 2010 Federal, State (and for some of us Local) tax returns. If you are scheduled to receive a tax refund and you filed your return electronically, you will likely receive a credit to your account, but if you mailed-in your tax return, you could be waiting for that refund check for a long time.
Politicians are trying to score points for their parties, refusing to compromise, all the while weighing how their actions today will affect their re-election campaigns in the future.
Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of people are holding their breaths, hoping for an avoidance of a government shutdown, quite literally at the eleventh hour.
Is this what they call a Democracy?
I think back to the comedian Johnny Carson and the following line which is attributed to him:
"Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties."
Political parties are like children in a playground--ever trying to outdo their peers. Seeing their antics one wonders how countries are still running.
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