Government Shutdown - Disservice to the People

Has America completely gone nuts?

I am always saying that I am not about making political statements, but this week's insane moves on Capitol Hill beg for political commentary.

As a long time Civil Servant, I must speak out against the politically motivated, self-serving maneuvers our members of Congress have been making concerning the budget and a government shutdown.

In reality, shutting down the Federal government costs more money than keeping it running!

This has been documented -- the sum of restarting systems atop the cost for an orderly stop, back-pay with interest, legal processing, lost productivity due to countless meetings to plan the shutdown and then to plan the restart, overtime to make up for lost time on critical initiatives to name just a few things that cost American's more money than this exercise would ever save!

And, that doesn't even take into account the personal suffering imposed on benefits recipients, the Federal workforce (families and dependents) and our Armed Forces fighting overseas and keeping us safe here at home base.

The longer I live, the more stupid Americans seem to be getting.

Could it be the result of removing Civics as a middle and high school course?

People don't understand they need a strong, efficient and effective government to keep the country running. Else, we'd quickly see our infrastructure fall apart, our schools fail, our streets become unsafe, benefits shrink, and the end of civil discourse.

Wait!

We are already seeing these things happening and government has been running! Well, all this is the result of 30 years of using the Federal government as a political pawn instead of upholding it as a foundation for our democracy. Now, after all these years of abuse, the foundation is full of cracks.

Could this be the blow that opens a gash we can't close?

I hope not... for America's sake.