Another shutdown is unacceptable

We all love to moan about the federal government: every single one of us has had a tough time or difficult encounter with a federal official or agency, and found ourselves stymied by the bureaucratic hell-maze that is the Washington, D.C. agency phone tree.

But then along comes a government shutdown and those inconveniences seem far less important in the face of just what that portends, and the uncertainty that engenders in those who deal with any federal program or receive any federal services.

Questions we asked ourselves this morning included: Will Yellowstone remain open? What about Grand Teton? Will the Shoshone National Forest staff be at work? Is it possible that our press contact at BLM isn’t answering because they’ve been furloughed? What about our liaison at Yellowstone? When will the Interior Department answer the sources we have on background?

More pertinent to our day-to-day operations: will our post office service continue? Will we have outraged subscribers who haven’t received their papers? Do we need to get creative in how we put out our paper?

And then, of course, the personal: what will happen to those who receive Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare, federal assistance such as WIC or SNAP? We know people who will be affected by this. Indeed, some of our own team or our families will be impacted by it.

Just as readily as we love to moan about the feds, we also love to point fingers – and so, at whose feet shall we lay the blame for this gross failure? If we look to the major media outlets and social media, it would appear both sides are at fault.

But we disagree. Our view is broader: both houses of Congress should be shamed for this shutdown. It is negligent and it is incompetent, and people will suffer as a result of the games being played for-profit. So, too, should we feel burdened by this shutdown and any other that has come before it or will come after it (and we expect more shutdowns): we elect these people and they make fools of us continually.

When it all comes to a screeching halt, we’re unequally impacted. There’s an old proverb that goes, “When elephants fight, the grass suffers.” So it is here. No matter what a politician says to justify their actions and why this needed to happen, we have neighbors wondering if their scantSocial Security check will arrive this month to feed them and heat their home, we have rangers and federal workers wondering if they’ll be sacked this time or furloughed once more. But make no mistake, those politicians we elected to negotiate and make equitable laws for our benefit – and yet who allowed this to happen yet again – are continuing to collect their check and asking you for another buck for the cause. So is the President.

You may think us snide for saying it, but when we don’t do our jobs and fail at such a spectacular level, we’re sacked. For over a decade, our country has continuously embarrassed itself by cycling through shutdowns and playing games with the common man’s needs. We are the land of deregulation and minimal government in Wyoming, but even we are touched by this and it is unconscionable to us that we abide it.

If Congress can’t perform the most basic of its duties, then perhaps, in our not so humble opinion, our Congresspeople should be locked in the Capitol building without pay until they find it within themselves to begin working for the average citizen again.