I find it interesting that politics can be so polarizing. People generally toe the party line. They are adamantly against whatever the other side is espousing. In general, every senate vote is usually based on a few defectors crossing the line. It’s not even a spectacle; it’s a disappointment.
Until today!
The usual pedantic posturing of Republicans and Democrats, us versus them, is tiresome. The real expectation is seeing if they can actually accomplish partisan resolution. Today’s announcement the Senate had unanimously passed a resolution to go without pay during shutdowns—now that was unexpected!
Well, kinda.
Here’s the deal: Yes, all politicians will go without pay if a shutdown occurs. That’s all fine and dandy, until you read the fine print. Actually, their pay during a shutdown will be directed to an escrow account until such time as a politically manufactured shutdown is resolved and the government is once again funded.
It’s supposed to foster a “we’re in the same boat” as the little guy. But…they’re not.
The TSA employees, during the last, and longest, government shutdown were forced to beg for donations, take out costly loans, or outright quit to find employment so they could feed their family.
It sounds great. It sounds sympathetic. It sounds like they are on our side. They are not!
Let’s take a more granular look at these senators. First, most of them have been in office for years, if not decades. They are entrenched. Second, based on a simple Google search, the average net worth of senators is $12.5 million. Yes, you read that right. On a salary of less than $200k per year, they are multi-millionaires. Third, the average senator owns at least two homes. They also have at least two offices: one in their representative district, and one in Washington. Fourth, they generally do not travel in public airlines unless they are in first class, and they are re-imbursed for their travel in most cases as an expense of being a representative.
Now for the gory details. What happens if they don’t receive their pay? They simply wait until the shutdown is completed and then get all their back pay. Wow! I bet that really hurts…not!
Also, as with any government regulation that is meant to curtail abuse, you can bet there are loopholes built in to ensure that representatives from either side of the aisle can get re-imbursements or funding of some sort. We don’t know what they are now, but we’ll soon find out.
The bottom line is this: the little guy still gets nothing until they move their disinterested butts. As evidenced by the last shutdown, TSA employees, the ones who worked tirelessly, without pay, kept on working, while both regimes took vacations, dined in opulence, and avoided the downtrodden at every turn.
Basically, it is false bravado. It is a manufactured theatre. It is designed to elicit sympathy for the poor, overburdened, under-appreciated political representative that, realistically, doesn’t know who Joe the Plumber is or what he does.
Enough with the self-congratulatory and self-aggrandizements. Perhaps it’s time to actually make it hurt, not just pretend that it hurts. Since a shutdown should be of last resort, the senators should be required to stay in Washington and work toward resolution—no vacations, no two-week breaks, nothing, until the government is properly funded.