CONSTITUTIONAL IGNORANCE BEFITTING A BANANA REPUBLIC

It has been instructive to watch popular reaction to the looming possibility of a government shutdown.  Americans interviewed around Times Square, for example, voiced such dismay that made it seem as though a great catastrophe was in the offing.  Little did they know that essential services would continue and that partial shutdowns had occurred in the past without widespread upheaval and disruption.  In other words, the sky did not fall, and essential services continued.

With the dumbing-down of America, too few students are exposed to a serious study of the Constitution and how America was designed to work.  Consequently,  most adults these days would have no idea of the concept of checks and balances and how this provision is necessary to protect citizens from the tyranny of ill-conceived actions and fiscal profligacy.

Legislating in the United States is based on the premise that law-making and budget-building will be undertaken in the spirit of negotiation and compromise.  Thus far, with three revised continuing resolutions sent to the Senate from the House,  the Democratic-controlled upper house has simply refused to consider any sort of compromise, even though the House has proposed that a joint committee of senators and representatives should review possible areas for negotiation.

Despite polls which show overwhelming opposition across the U.S. against the Affordable Care Act, the president and his minions in the Senate have refused to budge.  In fact, during a crucial time period during last weekend, the Senate did not even show up for deliberations, and the president spent his time on a golf course.  As it now stands, Democrats want to implement health care legislation that that is so discriminatory that it contains special subsidies for Congressional staffs and a year-long exemption from the mandate  for big business.  Of course, there will be no exemptions or subsidies for middle class America.

As a job killer, the Affordable Care Act will be most effective.  Employers, unsure about how the legislation will affect the economy, will be unwilling to hire more than 49 employees.  More Americans will be forced into part-time employment and will find the options on the insurance exchanges to be inordinately expensive. Nevertheless, the president and the Democratic senators refuse to make any concessions.

In Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution,  provisions are established regarding the appropriation of funds to support legislation passed through Congress.  The House is presently fulfilling its power of the purse.  It is no more extraordinary for the House to question the fiscal integrity of a law than it would be for a president to either sign or veto legislation.  Obviously, if blame is to be apportioned for a government shutdown, the lion's share must go to the Democrats in the Senate and an arrogant president who proclaims that he will not stoop to negotiate any portion of his signature legislation.

Predictably, Democrats are turning to their base of under-educated and benefit-dependent voters to cast aspersions on the House.  Just as addicts shake and shiver when they are told that their fixes are in jeopardy, the food-stampers, medicaders and Obamaphoners shudder as they are regaled with stories of doom, not realizing that, despite a shutdown, their subsidies and allowances will continue to flow.  Yes, entitlements are here to stay despite a shutdown!

Unsurprising, too, is the urgency of the leftist media to jump on board the blame-game express, hurling their poisonous invective and gobbledygook of distortions of hardship caused by the shutdown.  The tragedy of it all is that there will be millions of ignorant Americans more than willing to believe every word.

Those who are relutant to look down the road and ponder the destructive effects of ill-gotten legislation on future generations are reminiscent of Esau, who was willing to forego his inheritance for a mess of pottage. Thus, certain questions assume more and more importance. For example, has it now come to pass that the energetic and hard-working must exist for the convenience of the takers and shirkers?  Are we to be subsumed by an increasing number of ill-informed and poorly-educated individuals whose blank slates are easily filled with an ideology of envy and dependency?  And, finally, are we in the process of witnessing the destruction of the Republic by a disdainful and condescending leader who gives every indication that he desires to impose a banana republic-type dictatorship on a land whose citizens were once a proud and sturdy people?