Good Morning.
The government, a chunk of it anyway, is closed for business because the president wants to build a gigantic, impenetrable wall along the southwestern border of the United States. Government employees aren't getting paid at a time when holiday bills are coming in, and some reportedly returned Christmas gifts to put a little more cash in the checking account. The Coast Guard, Secret Service, and FBI agents are working without pay, a situation that is totally unacceptable.
National parks and museums like The Smithsonian are locked up. TSA people are calling in sick as a protest, affecting airport security. The IRS, now at the start of tax season, will be hampered by a limited staff and has said that refunds will be delayed if the shutdown continues. Some folks use these checks to pay down credit cards or student loans and some take a much-needed vacation or make a purchase for their home, but many get the health care they put off until they had a little extra on hand and could pay the out-of-pocket costs. Who knows how the shutdown impacts the stock market. Roller coaster comes to mind.
The president has said that the standoff with Congress could last for weeks, even months, until he gets the big bucks he wants for his wall, even though he hasn't spent the funds allotted for border security a year ago. He had indicated that he wanted to keep the government up and running but abruptly changed his mind after a couple of his favorite talk show hosts scolded him for being a wuss and betraying his base of supporters, a group that wants the wall more than life itself because the president told them the people trying to sneak into the country are all criminals. They also believed him when he said that
the so-called caravan from Central America is filled with Middle Eastern terrorists even though there isn't a shred of evidence to support such a claim.
A more expansive approach to border security is taken by many lawmakers, including three senators from the president's own party who have recently broken ranks to publicly declare that enough is enough. They favor using a variety of measures that would utilize advanced technology and drones because they, like many of us, aren't particularly drawn to big concrete walls and were appalled when young children were taken from their parents, some never to be reunited again. We're talking basic human decency here and perhaps a serious discussion about what the country is supposed to be at its core. Forget the complicated immigration mess for a moment and consider what's really going on here: the man in the Oval Office is sorely lacking in empathy. He doesn't care about the workers who aren't getting paid, he doesn't care about the military personnel who were away from their families during the holidays so they could roll out miles of barbed wire, and he certainly doesn't care about the human family at large. He caters to the citizens who give him the adulation he craves, and for their part, his fans love it when he turns the country upside down, regardless of the consequences, including when he makes the Pentagon shudder about his unpredictable foreign policy and his favoring dictators over long-time allies. Something is wrong with this picture.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
댓글