Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

     Well it seems like we all survived the governmental shut down with only minor bumps and bruises and most of those we gathered while moving barriers foolishly erected by the United States Park Service to keep us Americans (you and I who own the public places and pay to keep them up) out of our own property. I don’t know who the fool was leading the cabinet position that the National park Service falls under…oh wait…could it be the same one who turned down attending the World Food Prize because “the government has shut down.” Way to be Secretary of Agriculture and show you are an Iowan Tom! Government is shut down…nope…not going to fly back to Iowa to take part in one of the most important Agricultural activities in the state because you’d have to pay for your own flight? Or were you too busy making sure the rangers were kicking people out and threatening tourists with jail times and fines simply because they were driving through Yellowstone taking pictures?

     Oh wait, I’m wrong. The Park Service is actually under the command of the Interior department. Do we even have an interior department? That sounds like something you would find at Yonkers.

     I’m sure that a few of my left leaning fellow columnists are going to stand up puffing their chests and pretending that they alone defeated the big bad “tea party” and calling for the head of Senator Grassley who voted no on the compromise to reopen the government, which in reality wasn’t any real compromise at all and seemed more like a capitulation to the President more than anything else. And speaking of the man behind the curtain in the White House, where was he this whole time besides standing at the podium shouting that he would not negotiate with the Republicans but demanded they vote how “he” wanted them to. Seems like an awfully poor use of what little leadership talents he possesses, although to be quite honest after six years of him, I’m beginning to wonder if there is any true leadership in the man other than being able to plan family vacations for him and the Obamlets at the expense of you and me.

     So let’s break this down a little bit for those of you who really weren’t paying attention. The United States government spends way more money than it takes in. This equals your average month of trying to live in this economy where you paycheck shrinks and you have to decide which bill collector to placate this month. With me so far? Good. Remember back a year or so ago when there was a big toot about the government needing to cut spending and Congress coming up with this big plan to do it and instead of shutting the government down put into place huge cuts (which really in Washington speak means millions of dollars in additional spending, but since it isn’t as much as “x government official” had asked for it is considered a cut). These huge cuts will take place automatically and are called sequestered cuts, although when I think of sequestering I think of juries being confined in small rooms eating doughnuts and drinking stale coffee.

     Back to our fearless leader…One of his duties is to present a budget to congress each year. This is like his Christmas list and gives Congress a place to start arguing. Well between all the vacations and time he spent worried about the war in the Middle East, our fearless leader couldn’t seem to be able to put together a budget to send to Congress. Without a budget….no one knows how to fund things…government gets shut down. See how this works?

      Oh don’t get me wrong….this shut down could have been avoided by using the democratic tactic of “Hey…let’s just draw a new line in the sand that we shouldn’t cross!” This seems to be the best way to avoid actually dealing with the problem. It’s like that old western where the guy keeps drawing the line, daring the killer to cross it. Seeing an opportunity to act like small children, a few congressional Republicans thought it might be good to shut down the government until someone stood up and agreed with them that Obama care is a horrible thing.

     Well this plan seemed to back fire on them, although everyone who has looked at it does agree that the government mandated health care plan….or the “Affordable Care Act” as it is called is a real nightmare. Affordable Care Act? Affordable for who? Those who have no job? Um…who is going to pay for their healthcare? Oh that’s right…didn’t you hear? Those of us who have jobs and have to pay for our own outrageous costing healthcare get the honor of helping to pay someone else’s as well. Well shoot, that sounds like a win win to me boys!

     So now the government is back open. We still have no farm bill….no cure for the deficit and no budget for the government to run on. Oh but we have a date…yes another line in the sand. Our children still get born into a country where the first breath they take qualifies them to automatically owe the federal government over $47,000 as their part of the national debt but who is counting. Good job Congress….good Job Mr. Obama….Way to go…Glad to see the government open for business yet again, and sure hope that you all can find some time to actually work on the issues facing us before you have to arm wrestle in order to draw another line in the sand.

See you next week….remember, we’re all in this together.