Saturday, October 5, 2013
SHUTDOWN SIMULACRUM by Mark Steyn
Just because it’s a phony crisis doesn’t mean it can’t be made even phonier.
Way back in January, when it emerged that BeyoncĂ© had treated us to the first ever lip-synched national anthem at a presidential inauguration, I suggested in this space that this strange pseudo-performance embodied the decay of America’s political institutions from the real thing into mere simulacrum. But that applies to government “crises,” too — such as the Obamacare “rollout,” the debt “ceiling,” and the federal “shutdown,” to name only the three current railroad tracks to which the virtuous damsel of Big Government has been simultaneously tied by evil mustache-twirling Republicans.
This week’s “shutdown” of government, for example, suffers (at least for those of us curious to see it reduced to Somali levels) from the awkward fact that the overwhelming majority of the government is not shut down at all. Indeed, much of it cannot be shut down. Which is the real problem facing America. “Mandatory spending” (Social Security, Medicare, et al.) is authorized in perpetuity — or, at any rate, until total societal collapse. If you throw in the interest payments on the debt, that means two-thirds of the federal budget is beyond the control of Congress’s so-called federal budget process. That’s why you’re reading government “shutdown” stories about the PandaCam at the Washington Zoo and the First Lady’s ghost-Tweeters being furloughed.
Via: National Review Online
Continue Reading
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
President Joe Biden is hiding a myriad of information on the more than 75,000 Afghans his administration has brought to the United States ...
-
A pro-amnesty group is forecasting that up to 1.76 million young illegal immigrants would get work permits under President Barack Obama’...
-
The Isis militant group has seized enough radioactive material from government facilities to suggest it has the capacity to build a...
-
Drum roll, please The real Cali story is infinitely darker. It’s time for The Top 7 Things The National Media Always Ignore About Jerry B...
-
OSKALOOSA, Iowa – President Barack Obama called the latest addition to the GOP ticket, Rep. Paul Ryan, “a good man, a family man” du...
-
Oprah Winfrey has said racism is still a problem around the world and the only way for it to end is for generations of racists to die out. ...
-
Even Big Bird has to make some money. The Sesame Workshop's 990 form for the 2010 tax year reveals that Caroll Spinney, the man behi...
-
A Kentucky Chuck E. Cheese appears to have taken the kid-friendly chain’s “no guns” policy too far, refusing to serve a police officer w...
-
Television ads that can be seen on cable news networks promoting petitions to abolish the IRS and defund Obamacare are being used by politi...
-
HOUSTON, Texas — The funeral service for Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth was held 11 AM, Friday, September 4, 2015 at the 2nd Baptist ...
No comments:
Post a Comment