Who Knew the Government Was Shut Down?

The government is shutdown… and we’re still alive!

In case you’re one of the millions of Americans who didn’t even realize the government was shut down, guess what? The government is shut down, and it has been now for the better part of three weeks. We are all still alive, the sun is still rising in the East and setting in the West, and all is still right with the world.

Despite the doomsday scenarios outlined by the fake news bobble heads, the government shutdown hasn’t affected the majority of the country in any way, shape, or form. After all, the government shuts down every weekend and for every holiday. This all begs the question – if we don’t even realize the government is shut down, and the majority haven’t even felt the affects of the shut down, then why are our tax dollars funding numerous functions of government we can obviously do without?

Non-essential government agencies

The term “non-essential” has been tossed around endlessly since the government shut down when referring to agencies and government employees who would be furloughed until government resumes normal operations. This has been a topic of much debate as people’s opinions with regards to essential and non-essential government functions differ greatly. As is the case, I feel it is important to get back to one central idea – What is the role government should be playing in the lives of each and every American citizen?

What to do with non-essential government agencies

The founders of this country addressed this idea perfectly when they drafted the Constitution of the United States. The brilliant founders debated endlessly as to the role, size, and scope of the federal government, and eventually came to the realization that power should be closest to the people, and that a federal government hundreds to thousands of miles away couldn’t possibly have the best interests of the entire citizenry at heart. As a result they included one essential amendment to our Constitution – the 10th Amendment.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with a government shutdown and the non-essential government agencies affected by said shutdown? Well it’s quite clear that the non-essential agencies were deemed non-essential for a reason. The government can operate fine without those agencies. While that may be the case, some of agencies do serve legitimate purposes and do help to make the lives of the citizenry better – but ask yourself this, does Washington have to run all of those agencies? Would those agencies be run more efficiently, would they be run better if they were managed at a more local level?

In steps the 10th Amendment! Many of the agencies and departments affected by the government shutdown aren’t called for in the Constitution or have been somehow deemed Constitutional using some convoluted justification by a team of lobbyists and attorneys. Nonetheless, some of the many agencies and departments affected by this shutdown include the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Communications Commission, the Small Business Administration, the agencies that oversee the National Parks, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development – and despite these agencies being trimmed back or shut down altogether we have been living our lives just fine.

This should be a central theme when dealing with big bloated government. The left would have you believe that we would end up dead if we were to trim back the federal power of the monster that is Washington DC. The most recent government shutdown proves the contrary, we have managed and thrived despite the shutdown.

Not only would local management of these aspects of government result in better overall operation, it would increase accountability, trim back cost, and most importantly it would give the citizenry better accountability over the bureaucrats. All politics is local, and when it’s kept local we have a far better chance to speak truth to power and make the changes needed to keep things operating in an efficient and cost effective manner.

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