April 7, 2011

 
   They can still stall some more, of course.  But if they do shut the government down, will it be total?  No.  No one plans to lock away all the hydrogen bombs, so if some bag guy attacks us, we can attack back.  But will we notice the shutdown?  Oh, yes.
 
     Here in Washington, the Washington Monument would close.  So would parks and museums and Ford's theatre.  The Capitol would close, I suppose.  Congress might go home or sulk quietly in its homes here.  The rule is that non-essential federal employees would stay home.  That's maybe 800,000 people nationwide.  But how do we decide who's essential?  That's not clear. And what proud parent wants to look at the kids over breakfast and say, "I'm not essential, guys. I'm staying home today." 
 
     So it's a mess.  The Washington Post warns, "...the nation's capital may soon be in the grips of something akin to a vast nicotine fit.  Tens of thousands of federal workers deemed nonessential will be forced to give up their Blackberrys."  Pretty tough stuff.
 
     I have an idea, though.  Why don't we just declare the Congress nonessential, send them home and keep spending the money on everything else?  They're the bozos who couldn't pass a budget, right?