to the statists in the room, the idea of limiting government is anti-government. without the constant growth of the bureaucracy they see no growth at all, only the greed of selfish individuals. whether they are blind to the capacity of the private sector to solve our problems or simply overwhelmed by the seemingly endless choices available to the independent individual, they have already decided that it is governmental force that should decide the destiny of the citizenry and we had all better just fall in line. they'll spout an endless litany of corporate abuses and regale us with the heroic feats of government regulation that put an end to those abuses, but they refuse to admit that it is the denizens of government that encouraged those abuses in the first place. they seem to be incapable of looking beyond the immediate gains of allowing the state to run amok and understanding the dangers of its unchecked growth.
of course it's just a stunt, government never really shuts down. it's just a bit of political grandstanding from both sides of the aisle to remind the peons how dependent we have become on the political elite, the power hungry animals we continue to elect year after year to shove us first one way and then the other. the lifestyles of our unresponsive representatives won't be impacted by any failure to fund government services and, most importantly, their power won't be diminished in the least. the outcome will be the same as it always is. the march toward the omnipotent nanny state will resume. it might be slowed or even stalled for a while, but it will continue. it will continue because it provides the immediate gratification that the unruly mob demands.
that massive cuts to the redundancy and incompetence of our government are necessary is obvious. that we have lived beyond our means, both as individuals and as a society, and we must now endure the pain as our economy stabilizes itself is equally obvious, but few really want to admit it. even though any grade-school dropout could understand that such a cycle is inevitable, we won't be allowed those necessary pains. we will continue to simply throw more money at our problems. we are, after all, one of the richest countries in the world and can certainly afford to buy off the piper. it won't work, but it will continue the charade. we've already tried that route and have little if anything to show for it. we threw billions upon billions at failing industries and enriched only those in a position to take advantage of the taxpayer's largess. we extended unemployment benefits far beyond the temporary nature they were intended for and merely postponed the inevitable pain of those waiting for jobs that simply aren't there. we threw away millions to encourage people to replace their gas guzzlers with new, more efficient cars and give a boost to our lagging auto industry (a dual purpose move that failed utterly), but those increased sales were only temporary and the industry still languishes. we have artificially inflated the price of american labor, succeeding only in creating a false middle class for some and pushing an ever increasing number of jobs overseas. for years we have increased the taxation of the nation's businesses to the breaking point, hoping to produce a nest egg to fund our laundry list of entitlements and managing only to send industry scurrying for more business friendly climes.
even though compromise is inevitable, both sides in this debate will put it off as long as possible. one will insist that it is their duty to provide for the citizenry as though they were feckless children and the other will demand that government services be gutted. eventually they will reconcile their differences, but not until we have all been shown the bureaucracy's necessity. afterward, both sides will claim victory and neither side will have really done anything for the people or the nation's future. we will continue our downward spiral into total dependency because that is what the loudest voices, the voices of envy and greed, demand and what provides the political elite with the greatest opportunity to expand their power. yes, those openly socialistic democrats will eventually win out. if not today, then tomorrow or the next day. they will win out because legislation is affected most by popular opinion and the mob is convinced they are owed success or at least comfort in their servitude.
