When leaders resort to the unthinkable
In an episode of the original “Star Trek,” the Enterprise lands on a planet where inhabitants have lined up submissively to die at the Disintegration Chamber.
The planet is at war with a rival planet, a war fought entirely by computers. After a simulated battle, some people from the losing side will present themselves for disintegration. Because the war is so bloodless, nobody is trying to end it.
They have made the unthinkable acceptable.
The episode ends with Captain Kirk destroying the computers and persuading the opponents to begin peace negotiations.
Like that planet, we have made the unthinkable acceptable. It is called a government shutdown.
Who could have conceived the United States government shutting down programs from food safety to border patrols because Congress can’t agree to continue funding it?
Yet it has happened. It almost happened twice this year, in September and November. And we’re not done. Because the budget agreements are short term, we are in suspense again until January and February deadlines. That includes me, and I’m angry.
The first shutdowns, during the Reagan administration, lasted just a day or two. But during the mid-90s, a newly emboldened conservative majority in the House of Representatives rebelled against what they perceived as a bloated and intrusive government. They were probably partly right. But they took their refusal to compromise too far. And their successors have done it again repeatedly.
That first mid-90s shutdown was terrifying, partly because it was unknown. But the process has been tamed. The unthinkable has been made acceptable.
Congress has turned our national budget into a gunfight at the OK Corral and made it appear almost normal.
The trick is that it’s not a real shutdown. It’s only partial.
Between the Office of Management and Budget and individual agencies, work-arounds have been found, such as identifying essential workers who are expected to work even though they won’t be paid until the shutdown ends. If some low-paid employees can’t pay their rent, that’s their personal problem.
Every federal agency has a detailed shutdown plan, publicly posted on the White House website. I looked through 34 pages of the Department of Transportation plan, dated August 3. In the Federal Aviation Administration, part of DOT, it says 25,489 employees are necessary to protect life and property; 17,251 others will be furloughed. Air traffic controllers are among the essential ones. We will trust them to keep millions of Americans safe in the air while not getting paid. Who buys their coffee?
Those plans also identify jobs that won’t be done, like safety inspections and maintenance – omissions that will cost the taxpayers later.
Members of Congress will continue to get paid. Their staffs won’t.
There are 94 federal agencies operating in New Mexico, including military. Some will stop working. Food assistance under several programs will be jeopardized for more than a half million New Mexicans. Most funding for tribes would stop.
In the 35-day shutdown of 2018-2019, thousands of federal workers resorted to food pantries.
Reports say the hardest hit will be the lowest paid workers of federal contractors, like people who clean the buildings, who will not get back pay.
The number one job of Congress is to pass a budget that funds the government. This basic job has been ignored during the recent shenanigans by the semi-anarchist caucus on the far right.
Thanksgiving is over. Congress should immediately go back to work and enact a full-year budget.
A member who thinks we’re spending too much on a particular item should argue the point in committee and then accept the majority result. Anyone who believes a shutdown is an acceptable tool should not be in Congress.
It’s unthinkable.
Contact Merilee Dannemann through www.triplespacedagain.com.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: When leaders resort to the unthinkable
