The partial government shutdown’s impact and the teachable moment – Part 6
Continuing with today’s story based on the Q&A entry from Ignacio today...
I’ve never dedicated a six-part series to any particular topic on any particular day. I want to thank Ignacio for the thoughtfulness of his note. It’s provided me with an opportunity to comprehensively address just about every angle represented by the partial government shutdown. The foundation of my work is based on principal. I express that through “The Premise”. If the premise of anything is false anything built on it will be too. I believe in liberty and limited government. Here we are in the longest partial government shutdown in US history. Have you even noticed? While 6% of essential service professionals are working and unfortunately don’t know when they’ll be paid next, 19% of the federal government is fully non-operational and yet life goes on.
For me this is the teachable moment that unfortunately isn’t instilled through our education system. Here are the key points:
The federal government works for the American people. It’s not the responsibility of Americans to work to support the federal government
The federal government has 430 federal agencies. Do you really think we need that many? How many can you name? How many do you think your Congressional Representatives can even name – yet they fund all of them with your money
The average household spends $15,200 per year to simply pay the salaries of federal employees. Would you rather have a smaller federal government with a balanced budget and retain thousands of extra dollars for you and your family annually or continue with the status quo?
The adversity that impacted federal employees are facing is real, but the way adversity is covered isn’t. There were over 17,000 private sector employees laid off in Florida in 2018 – thousands more than are impacted by the partial government shutdown. How many news agencies, reporters, etc., covered the adversity faced by those employees in contrast to the job security and salaries earned by those in the federal government? During the Great Recession did any news agencies and reporters interview federal employees to ask them if they felt guilty earning reliable pay checks and retaining job security while hundreds of thousands of Floridians lost their jobs and their homes?
Here’s the thing. There’s a dearth of education about the role of government in this country. There’s also a dearth of analytical thought. I’m in a position to provide you with both and this shutdown is a teachable moment to illustrate these points in a way I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I’ll also never stray from my core values and principals, which include a belief in limited government – because it’s the popular or expedite thing to do. There’s no shortage of media, virtually everywhere else that’ll tell you what you want to hear without facts and analytical thought. The reason I’m here is because I’ll tell you the truth and provide perspective, you’ll never get anywhere else.
Sometimes truth and the resulting perspective is provocative and challenging to your thoughts and the status quo. Ironically that’s the intended role of news media. That we’re having this conversation demonstrates just how derelict of duty almost all news media has become. Incidentally once I reached out to Ignacio, I received this in return.
Thank you, I apologize if I was out of hand, I’m just so tired of both parties not doing what they are there to do and they’re taken care of, their kids and grand kids are taken care of. This isn’t the way our founders wanted the country run.
Don’t apologize for anything. If everyone were as passionate about this country and as considered and thoughtful as you, we’d have a far more responsible and responsive government. May God bless you and thank you for listening and taking the time to reach out to me.