The Democrats have once again given us a front-row seat to their version of governance with the recent 43-day government shutdown. They managed to roll out a red carpet of chaos and inconvenience, leaving countless Americans caught in their political games. This shutdown seemed purpose-built to remind Americans why common sense is now an endangered species in Washington, D.C.
One can’t help but wonder about the real casualties here. Federal employees endured missed paychecks, creating a domino effect on their families and communities. Low-income Americans were forced to skip out on their SNAP benefits, highlighting yet again how policies designed on political battlefields seldom respect the needs of the people they claim to serve. The common citizen was left pondering just how this spectacle of partisan politics managed to push more than 5 million travelers into a tailspin of disrupted flights.
And let’s not even get started on the ramifications for our nation’s air traffic control system. While Mayor Pete chose to focus on the pioneering science of pronoun usage and pumped $80 billion into climate change initiatives, the air traffic environment could have benefited from a bit more attention on safety and personnel retention. Meanwhile, travelers held onto their seats—both figuratively and literally—just hoping the flight delays wouldn’t complicate their Thanksgiving visits to grandma. Let’s toast to political priorities!
Of course, the Democrats were busy playing a game of veritable chess, only to reveal it was actually checkers. The supposed victories were as tangible as a ghost’s shadow but sounded grand if you didn’t poke around and check for substance. They flaunted the idea of votes on the Affordable Care Act subsidies that never materialized and then celebrated an empty plate of nothing post-shutdown. One might think they’d be proud of managing to avoid votes altogether, as if handling the nation’s finances were a game to be maneuvered deftly and avoided when complications arise.
Interestingly enough, while military families were visiting food banks, some Democrats treated the shutdown as a tool of leverage, not quite comprehending—or perhaps ignoring—their responsibility to serve those who serve all of us. It makes sense they’d claim some mystical moral victory afterward, perhaps in a parallel universe where participation trophies are handed out to politicians simply for showing up with a smile and a convenient soundbite.
The broader picture, sadly, reveals a habitual reliance on stops and starts in government funding. Since 1980, these manufactured crises, apparently born of legal reinterpretations during the Carter era, have become a staple diet for Congress. Passed budgets are a rarity, completed on time only four times in nearly five decades. Yet again, the promise of meaningful change is swept aside, ensuring that next year’s version of the same political drama is already penciled into our calendars. Thus, we bid farewell to another government shutdown, until the next episode inevitably begins.
