I Still Believe in a Good Government Shutdown, but this isn't it

   If a good shutdown would work, I would favor it. Give me a shutdown that reduces the size of government by, say, 17 percent, and I might take it.  Seventeen percent -- that's what the shutdown in 2013 amounted to (in terms of money being spent), and I would guess this one is about the same.

   I believe government is too big. I  believe the national deficit is too big. If we were to trim the size of government, how much would we cut? I do not believe 17 percent too much. Now, if we cannot stomach a 17 percent shutdown for a few weeks, however are we going make any kind of headway into an $20 trillion deficit? 

   But, there are negatives that come with these shutdowns. To begin with, there is the idea that we are not paying our bills. I, along with others, believe in paying our bills. So, this is the first problem with a government shutdown.

   Next, there is the fact shutdowns don't result in savings, anyway. Despite a portion of the government being down, all the same money gets spent (as best as I can tell). Once the shutdown is over, the employees who were not coming to work are paid retroactively, same as if they had been at work. If we are not going to save money, the shutdown doesn't do any good at all.

   Thirdly, there is the question of whether we want the government employees to go without their income, supposing we didn't pay them retroactively. Have we no compassion for them? Yes, if we are ever going to put a dent in the national deficit, somewhere along the line we  might need to reduce the number of federal employees. But, the more favorable way of doing this would be through attrition, meaning not replacing people when they retire or move to the private sector. Unfortunately, we don't have the option of using attrition during a government shutdown.

   Fourthly, national parks and such are closed. Communities such as those in southern Utah depend on tourism, and the loss of visitors has definite ill effects. On this problem, however, I have heard the parks will remain open during this shutdown, albeit they won't be manned.

   Finally, there is the concern for those on WIC and other programs not getting paid in a timely fashion. I believe those on Social Security are not so affected, as their payments continue even during this shutdown. But, those on WIC and some other programs are not so fortunate. Yes, if we are to reduce spending by 17 percent, some social programs might need to go by the wayside. Still, we must find a way to help the WIC recipients. Could private charities step in?

  I still believe in a good government shutdown. But, until we tweak our shutdowns so they actually benefit us, there is no such thing a good government shutdown.