Shutting The U.S. Government Down Begs The Question: "Which Government?"

Dear Fred,

Thanks for your email.

American government is plenty lean already... although that statement evokes fits of laughter from absolutists compelled to see austerity as divinely-ordained anorexia. 

Republican Pin-Up Girl

(This is what happens when "Impeccably Pure Theory" morphs into Actual Practice.)

***

Eliminating "pork" from legislative process has been a debacle. 

Previously, the promise of pork -- which never comprised more than a minuscule percentage of the federal budget -- had the great virtue of enabling party leaders to keep their caucus "in line." 

Check out "Sarah Palin, Socialist Superstar!" -- http://socialistsarahpalin.homestead.com/ -- and oink with Miss Piggy herself.  

Or, cut straight to the chase at  http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/02/pork.spending/index.html#cnnSTCOther2

"Pork" is essential to the proper functioning of our (blessedly) fallen world: "If you want things to work, you gotta grease the wheels." 

Unaware that human beings must "give the devil his due," American conservatives have become too dry to be good.  In merely sexual terms, they are like women who no longer produce vaginal lubricant. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/04/merton-best-imposed-as-norm-becomes.html

If you want to get down, you gotta get juicy. 

(BTW... "Too dry to be good" is a subset of "too true to be good.")

***

Beyond a certain point, every "cut" is aimed at The Body Politic's throat.

As a philosophy, austerity is best-suited to Puritans and neo-Puritans, not to vital, fun-loving Americans.

"There is no there, there" because there is no grease, no pork, no juice, no lubricant, no slurpy-durpy squeegy-weegee.

Just cacophonous grinding of dead, mechanical wheels.

"Government by threat of bi-monthly shutdown" is like running a car without oil.

It works for a few minutes; then, predictably, overheats. And so "bimonthly shutdown" is a government model only suitable for hotheads.

***

Soon I will write about conservatives' myopic alarmism, absent sense of proportion, and how their frozen posture of fret-and-fear fosters inflammatory freak-out. 

See "The Paranoid Style In American Politics" - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/01/paranoid-style-in-american-politics-by.html 

See "Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals" - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/conservatives-scare-more-easily-than.html

Irony, paradox, perspective and patience are banished from the right side of the aisle, but without these intellectual (and emotional) safeguards, conservatives are trapped in the immediacy of "common sense," unaware that every problem (worthy of the name) requires diligent application of "uncommon sense."

***

Ever since Bill Clinton boarded the "small government" bandwagon, both political parties have been pruning Big Government.

Ironically, "smaller government" is not The Issue. 

In the overarching Tyranny of False Alternatives, we seldom glimpse the real thorn in our flesh - the replacement of Democratic Capitalism by in-your-face Plutocracy.

Remarkably, we don't even talk about shutting that government down.

At this very moment, The Supremes are preparing Round 2 of legalized corruption.

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/10/supreme-court-poised-to-legalize.html

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/10/some-peech-is-worth-more-than-others.html

And while Scalia prepares to battle Satan http://rackjite.com/new-rules-bill-maher-oct-11-2013/ his conservative acolytes prepare their pom poms.

What fun it will be to "stick the pig!"

And then... 

...how painful to realize who the pig really is.

Pax on both houses,

Alan

Ms. February

***

On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 11:01 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

We ought to shut down the government more often. We might consider shutting down state, county and municipal govts -- not all at once, but sort of a rolling black out. It's a good way to find out what parts of it are necessary........ some parts of the govt are quite necessary, and some parts are quite useful ...... I take the pragmatic approach -- I support whatever works and whatever most people agree on......

Govt shutdown is kind of like spending an evening at home reading by candle light when the power goes off. It won't kill you if it doesn't last too long.

I like the govt over all, it's just nice to know we have an on/off switch.

--
Fred Owens
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