To start with, I need to preface this by stating this is all my personal opinion, and NOT any official position of the national or North Carolina Democratic Party. I must state this...as I am a Democratic Party Precinct Chair. OK, so this is beyond local Precinct politics, but it is something I feel a need to weigh in on...the current federal government shutdown. It is having many effects on the people of my Precinct. They are my neighbors and friends, some of them are people I do not know...but I care because they are in my Precinct...and I care because they are human beings.
It’s who I am. When i see injustice, I want to fix it. First of all, I state my personal view that this shutdown is entirely of Trump's making. There was a budget passed, by both Republican Chambers of Congress, before the Speaker’s gavel was passed to Ms. Pelosi. That budget called for 1.6 billion dollars for Trump's stupid Wall.
And Trump said he would sign it. Then reneged on that after Rush Limbaugh opened his large mouth. I don't recall electing Rush Limbaugh to call the shots in this country. So now we have 800,000 Federal workers who are now minus their paychecks. Many of them are working without pay (and may get back pay, assuming Congress authorizes that) - but the furloughed workers will not get their missed pay restored. And millions of Americans who count on their tax refunds will not be getting them. Millions more who depend on SNAP benefits (food stamps) are getting February’s allotment early, in January 20. It is not a bonus disbursement, it is in fact, possibly the last disbursement they will get until and unless the government shutdown ends.
Meanwhile, Federal workers that have missed paychecks stand to lose their homes, their cars...their very lives. And these are the people who serve us all and keep us safe. They deserve better. They are the innocent collateral damage caught in the crossfire. It’s not right.
As an aside to this, I’d like to point out that so many would like to claim that we are a Christian Nation...so I believe this Biblical passage is topical in this time:
Deuteronomy 24:15
New International Version
Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Hostage-taking is no way to run our country. It is no way to run a civilized democracy, the greatest nation on earth. And this hostage-taking is made possible by a modern-era re-interpretation of the Antideficit Act of 1884. Prior to 1980-1981 a "shutdown" did not entail the actual shutting down of Federal agencies, it simply triggered a funding gap that had no real-world consequences. But in 1980-1981, then AG Benjamin Civiletti re-interpreted the Antideficit Act, making it possible to do what we see today...for a President, or a Senate Majority Leader...to single-handedly take hostages to try to get what they want. This is NOT how a democracy is supposed to work.
Firstly, the government needs to be re-opened. The votes are there and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is refusing to even bring the bills to the floor of the Senate to be voted on.
Secondly, it is critical that this shutdown results in Trump not getting so much as one thin dime more than the original passed budget for his Wall...otherwise the message is sent that you can take hostages and win.
Thirdly, after the government is re-opened, we need our elected leaders to revisit the Antideficit Act to make sure it no longer can be abused, allowing one man, be it the President, or the Senate Majority Leader...to take hostages of Federal workers and their families...not to mention the millions of families that depend on their tax refunds and SNAP benefits.
Barring a re-interpretation of the Antideficit Act, we need our elected leaders to pass a law creating an emergency fund that will pay Federal workers during times of government shutdown. You have not heard a single elected member of either Party...in either Chamber of Congress...yet address a re-interpretation of the Antideficit Act...or the creation of an emergency fund to pay Federal workers during times of government shutdown.
Either action would remove the ability of any one man in our government to take hostages in an attempt to get their own way and subvert democracy. And THAT..is what it is REALLY all about. It is not about a Wall. It is not about who wins, the donkeys or the elephants.
It’s about the kind of nation we want to be, and the kind of nation we want for our posterity (not that I as a trans woman who became sterile long before posterity was possible HAVE any posterity)
Do we want to be a democracy, a representative Republic, a free society...a notion governed by laws, the Constitution and our traditions that preserve our freedoms...or do we want to be a fascist dictatorship?
Do we want to be a nation of people that are governed at the consent of the governed...or do we want to be a mass of helpless people under the thumb of a strongman, who can, at his whim, take hostages to get his way? We MUST address this imminent threat to our way of life, our freedoms, or democratic society — while we still have the power to do so.