Government Shut Down - Give Me Your Money or I will Shoot This Dog

The government shutdown as a strategy to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (known as “Obama Care”) is joke.  I think to a great extent republican politicians want to stop anything President Obama does.  Whether you like the Affordable Care Act or don’t like it, it is the law of the land. In 2010, the law was passed by the US House of Representatives, it was passed by the Senate, it was signed by the president and subsequently it was upheld by the Supreme Court.

There is no question that this law, like the tax code, labor laws, heath laws, and all other laws, needs to be tweaked.  There is a process for revising and amending law.  A constitutional process.  The US House of Representatives passes a bill making changes to Affordable Care Act, the Senate passes the bill and the president signs it.

The republicans in the congress have taken a different approach, they have shutdown the government in an extortion effort to first eliminate the Affordable Care Act, when they were unsuccessful at that, then they wanted to delay it, and when they unsuccessful with that they demanded something else or the government would be shut down.

One of the late night talk shows interviewed people on the street.  Several people said they hated “Obama Care” and thought it was wrong and should be stopped.  The same people then said that they did not object to the “Affordable Care Act”.  Duh, Obama Care is the Affordable Care Act.  Its not the Act they object to, its the Obama.

I saw a cartoon in a paper once that had a robber holding a gun that was pointed at the head of a dog.  A man and woman were looking at the robber, the gun and the dog.  The robber looked at the couple and said

“give me your money or I will shoot this dog”.

Obviously not a funny cartoon but that certainly reminds me of the republicans in this government shutdown.  “Give me your money or I will shoot this dog”.  Well guess what? They made a demand, they didn’t get what they demanded, so they shot the dog.

I just read the following in Huffington Post.com:

House Republicans are continuing to play hardball in negotiations over the spending bill that precipitated the government shutdown on Oct. 1, apparently out of fear that compromise would weaken their power.

"We're not going to be disrespected," Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Washington Examiner. "We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."

Just think about it. It’s not about what’s best for America, it is not about a lawful process of amending a law, its about being “disrespected”.

"We're not going to be disrespected," We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."

Hundreds of thousands of people, government employees and private industry employees, have been and will be laid off, receiving no income because “we don’t want to be disrespected”.

The congressmen and senators still get paid although some have done the right thing and have stated they will donate their pay to charity during the shutdown.

Utah right wing Senator Mike Lee is one of the architects of the government shutdown strategy was asked if he would donate his pay.  He said that he would not. He was blasted for that position and then he cowered off of that position.  Here is an article from the Salt Lake Tribune:

Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Jim Matheson plan to donate their congressional pay during the government shutdown, saying they shouldn’t be paid when federal workers are not. Sen. Mike Lee — after previously telling a reporter he had no plan to do so — also says he will contribute his pay to charity.

They are among dozens of congress members saying they will donate their pay.

“I don’t think that’d be appropriate” to take a paycheck, said Matheson, D-Utah, who says he plans to find a charity that will help Utahns who have been affected by the government closure.

Hatch, R-Utah, says he will give his congressional pay until the government is running to his faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Washington Post listed dozens of members of Congress who have agreed to donate their pay as well. Rank-and-file House members and senators are paid $174,000 and the Constitution’s 27th Amendment forbids changing their pay during a congressional term.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, says he plans to ask the House clerk to delay paying him until the shutdown ends.

Lee, who led the effort to attempt to stop Obamacare by tying it to the budget bill, told KUTV Tuesday night that he would take his salary because he is working and had no plan to donate his pay to charity.

("Later") A spokesman on Wednesday told BuzzFeed that “Lee will donate to charity for every day of the shutdown.” The spokesman told the website that the KUTV story was “wrong,” and that the senator had always intended to donate, although his response may have been somewhat muddy.

KUTV on Wednesday stood by its original report and posted audio of its interview with Lee.

So let me get this. After Lee said he was going to take his pay, he received a lot of bad publicity causing his spokesman to assert that Lee never said he would take his pay. The spokesman was lying.  I just listened to the audio of interview where Lee clearly said he was working and would take his pay.   After being shown as a hypocrite, he now says he won’t take his pay.  What a total chicken shit.

Mike Lee

Give me your money or I will shoot this dog.