Forum: Will There Be A Federal Government shut down,And Do You Approve Or Disapprove?

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. This week's question:Will There Be A Federal Government shut down,And Do You Approve Or Disapprove?

 The Razor:I used to get worked up about these things, but they’ve happened so many times and become such a Washington DC insider sport that I’ve lost interest. I neither know nor care whether the federal government will shut down. As far as I’m concerned the less it functions the better. I hate to sound cynical but seriously, how many times have we gone through this?

 The Independent Sentinel:I do believe there will be a shutdown and I also believe the media will successfully put the blame on Republicans. As much as I don't want a shutdown or see Republicans blamed, I believe it is the right thing to do. The Republicans are trying to do the right thing. They are doing what most of their constituents want, not just the Tea Party as the Democrats would have us believe.

The reason I feel the way I do is because I see Obamacare as irrevocably damaging this country. I listened to Bill O'Reilly the other day talk about how melodramatic people are about Obamacare. This isn't about melodrama, it's about our freedom. Our Founding Fathers didn't sacrifice all that they sacrificed to have us turn around and sell ourselves to the highest bidders in government.


Some of the things Obamacare does:

• Obamacare gives the government the right to tax the people as much as they want on anything they want. This law should never have been declared constitutional.

• The Affordable Care Act was supposed to give the people in this country access to affordable healthcare. The CBO says, however, that 30 million will be without healthcare under Obamacare.

• The CBO also said it was unsustainable. Mr. Obama said that premiums would go down by as much as 3000% but they are skyrocketing in some cases.

• Mr. Obama assures us there will be subsidies, but who pays these subsidies? Roughly, 41% of the country will pay for the other 59%. If that's his idea of justice, I want no part of it.

• Worst of all, we are losing the 40-hour work week. My guess is that Obama will make some concessions to unions and this could be one of them, but then who pays for that? Someone has to pay for this free healthcare.

• Many believe that healthcare should not be profit making. However, instead of the insurance companies profiting, the government will profit. We can't sue the government - there will be no judicial recourse. There is also the problem of doctors profiting. If they don't make a profit, we will see the end of private practice and we will only get our health services through clinics and hospitals. The service will be lacking and the lines will be long.

• Obamacare will ruin our healthcare system.

• Obamacare isn't ready for prime time and a lot of people will be hurt by it.

• People who are opposed to paying for abortions will be forced to pay for them. That is unconscionable.

• Kathleen Sebelius gets to decide who lives and who dies. What was that she said - some live, some die?

• An IPAB comprised of non-medical, unelected bureaucrats will operate as a rogue government and decide the fate of the elderly and handicapped by limiting payments to doctors and hospitals. The IPAB operates independent of Congress and only the Executive controls it. IPAB can probably levy taxes. That is too much power in the hands of one branch of government.

• Our healthcare records will not be secure and we could easily be subject to tyranny of government agencies and rogue employees.

• The bill is almost 20,000 pages. That can't be good.

• Obamacare is about the government taking over 18% of the economy.

Every doctor I know thinks this is an awful bill. It was written in secret by special interests. There is a lot of money and influence involved. We are giving our health over to a small number of elite.

We will eventually be stuck with a single payer system and most freedom-loving Americans don't see that as a good thing. The non-profit co-ops subsidized by the government and the many demands placed on insurance companies will force them out of business.

The White House is rewriting this bill, not Congress. They have amended it 19 times without going through Congress.

If this bill goes through as is, we won't be the country we were.

The Republicans finally look like the party of Lincoln. It wasn't easy for him and his party then and this won't be easy now.

GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD: Shut it down. Keep the Gov out of our hair for a while. Besides, they can't harm us while they're out of biz.


 JoshuaPundit: I think the chances of a shutdown are 65-35 that it will happen. I see it, overall, as a positive thing.

For five years, we've been governed by a dysfunctional, arrogant  demagogue and his enablers engaged in  the looting of the treasury to reward their political cronies, Chicago-style. It's the height of irony to see a president and his allies who wasted a trillion taxpayer dollars on a bogus 'stimulus' that did nothing but enrich their political cronies, who have made an art out of 'digitizing' money that doesn't exist now raging about 'political terrorists' and fiscal responsibility merely because someone finally said no, we're not going to raise the amount of your credit line again unless we can negotiate over some things we want to happen.

This president has a long history of governing by diktat and executive order, including his de facto imposition of the Dream Act congress rejected three times and modifications to ObamaCare (the name 'Affordable Care Act' is an unintended joke on the country). Both of these acts are illegal under U.S. law along with other actions by this president.

I'd remind everyone exactly why ObamaCare is the train wreck it is - because this president, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Pelosi shoved it through with Republicans literally locked out of the room and without the normal negotiations and deliberations with the Senate. They did it  because Republican Scott Brown won a special election in Massachusetts and would have been a vote not to end debate, holding ObamaCare up indefinitely. So they pushed the bill through with even reading it Now they, or rather the American people are stuck with this mess.  President Obama and the Democrats own it.

So all in all, it's high time an attempt was made to have this president  do something he's consistently refused to do - negotiate with  Republicans. Whether the House Republican leadership will hold steady is, of course, another matter. If they don't, if they cave,  I doubt the GOP will survive as a party.
The Glittering Eye:Yes, the federal government will shut down. Default is also possible. No, I do not approve of it. I think it's an abrogation of responsibility on the part of our elected leaders and there's plenty of blame to spread around. Refusing to fund the PPACA was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Whatever Congressional Republicans' views of the program, shutting down the federal government to poke a thumb in the eye of the Senate Democrats and the president is just irresponsible.

However, the Senate Democrats are irresponsible, too, in refusing to deal with the legislation passed by the House and the president has been decidedly unhelpful by refusing outright to negotiate with House Republicans. Sometimes I fear for the republic.

Bookworm Room: No, there won't be a government shutdown, because Republicans always blink. And without regard to the shutdown, I disapprove of Republican's blinking problem. As for the shutdown itself, I think it would be a useful exercise for all Americans to see what happens if the federal government is reduced to its essential services. It will shake people up, one way or another.

I was reminded of a mini-government shutdown just today when I found myself at San Francisco's beautiful Marina and Chrissy Fields. Looking out at the Bay and at Alcatraz, I was truly saddened when I thought that the sequester means that, for the first time in 25 or so years, there won't be a Fleet Week event in San Francisco. When the sequester hit, the Pentagon didn't trim waste (and there's lots of waste in our wonderful military). Instead, it immediately punished the American people. The Pentagon is, after all, first and foremost a bureaucracy. The loss isn't just emotional, it's financial. Fleet Week is a very profitable weekend for the towns that host it. In addition to sailors and Marines, Fleet Week brings in about 100,000 tourists and their money. Nevertheless, the important thing to remember is that, in the grand scheme of things, life goes on. A government service was cut and it's no biggie.

Well, there you have it.

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