Surcease of Sorrow

Well, the government decided to extend funding for another week with the promise that the US will have a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year. It’s a relief knowing that Alan will be getting paid, even if it doesn’t alleviate how broke we’ll be until next Friday. We just have to get through it and it’s good to know that we don’t have to "get through" some indefinite period of time. It’s just a week.

But it’s still disappointing to me. Or maybe disheartening is a better word. Republican blame the Democrats for not settling the matter last fall when they still had control. Democrats blame the Republicans for being unwilling to compromise and for bringing ideology into it. I watched a lot of C-SPAN yesterday and frankly, I blame them both. The role of government is to govern. Lobbying should be outlawed. Hell, parties should be outlawed  – The only employers that a representative should be answering to are his or her constituents. Then again, democracy can be two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner.

I had a long discussion with Kelby last night about the value of non-violent protest or even incredibly loud, angry, and vocal protest. I was arguing the validity of a full military shut-down. A sit-in. Of course, everyone would have to do it or the people who did would be penalized. Kelby couldn’t stop focusing on the fact them being punished. But that’s not the real point. If every low-level grunt who’s living paycheck to paycheck refused to work, they couldn’t penalize them all. They could try, but even if they did, they would have an even angrier, more dissatisfied group of soldiers. And they couldn’t throw them all out of the Army. The cost and time it would take to replace them would be absolutely prohibitive. But Kelby didn’t appreciate that. He’s in his early 20’s. All the idealism of his late teens has been beaten out of him by the world. The brainwashing of Basic Training probably didn’t help either.

He also didn’t appreciate my desire to drive to DC and throw eggs at the Capitol building. He didn’t understand that it wouldn’t matter if I was arrested. The point is to lodge the protest. To let someone know that you’re beyond fucking pissed off and they need to pull their shit together. And hell, arrest would only attract media attention. And maybe that would let someone else know that they’re not alone in their anger and that they have every right to be upset and to voice their rage. If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention, right?

Anyway, we were all at least very relieved to find that Washington had finally figured it out. We took a celebratory shot. It definitely made me remember why I don’t drink straight whiskey.

~Liz