Eric Wilson - 2013
Sequestration will not throw us into economic Apocalypse – politicians will. I am not blaming
Sequestration will not throw us into economic Apocalypse – politicians will. I am not blaming
Unlike the sequestration, the debt limit looming on March 27 could actually force a government shutdown. Congress must vote on a new continuing resolution and if they once again do nothing and hit an impasse – the government will shut down.
Next, on tax day – April 15 – a budget resolution is officially due from Congress. It is this milestone to which they have tied the “No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013.” If Congress does not pass a budget and all twelve of the accompanying spending bills setting annual agency budgets on time, every lawmaker's paycheck would get cut off.
Finally, on May 19 arrives the reinstated Debt Ceiling standoff. This is the date (as certain as you can be in Washington) when the extension of the debt ceiling expires per the House bill passed three months prior. If no budget is reached and no actions are taken, this is to be the “drop dead” date of a freeze on additional spending.
So – to recap – should Congress continue its inaction, it will cut spending, stop getting paid, not be able to increase the nation’s credit binge, and finally shut down and stop working. I am still struggling to see the problem here! I believe the problem comes when politicians get “squishy” and – in attempting to avoid the short term misfortune – they abandon long term principles.
The problem for many on Capitol Hill is that their stance is not one of principles but is instead a series of short-term crises for political gamesmanship. How many people honestly believe this fight is to solve a catastrophe in the manner that is best for the nation and “we the people?” Could you nametoday one single principle that you are confident Democrats or Republicans would not compromise for the sake of their party first or to win the next election?
The goal today is not to “fix” the problem but to “fixate” you on the problem. Everything government does today is an almost deliberate push to the eleventh hour to either trap the other side into a bad deal or come away hopefully looking like a savior. What happens is “we the people” are left out of this equation, and our focus continues to be on government as the solution to the next emergency that is upon us.
The result of this is our current sequestration will not throw us into economic Apocalypse – our politicians will. The most likely scenario over the next seventy or eighty days is not the systematic falling of the economic dominoes, but it will instead be misguided attempts to hold them up. The consequence will not be “no budget, no pay,” and no debt limit increase, but rather most likely a bad budget, more debt, and Congress not earning – but still receiving – their pay. Instead of crisis management, we need principled managers.
While short-term pragmatism may fix a crisis – unless leaders with principles and a long-term vision arise – the next crisis will continue to mount and the cycle will never be broken. With what they point to as inevitable consequences, if they do not act immediately to the next cogs in this economic wheel ahead, I point out the inevitable consequences for my children and generations ahead of their actions today. Compromise of principles for the sake of elections and perceived power is compromise of our liberties and the people’s power.
The next economic apocalypse is coming – it will be in the compromises and be at the hands of the politicians we keep looking to save us. The crises are not going away anytime soon, but what we can do is stop looking at parties and start looking to principles again. We need to stop being caught up in the trap of “left versus right” and begin to think and act independently. We need to look less urgently on the manufactured crises used to distract us and more on the realities we face. We need to break away from the emotions of the immediate and begin to think reasoned and critically of the future.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” – Thomas Jefferson
