We are at a federal governmental impasse. We have nowhere to go. Our 2-sided government decays to the point where neither side will budge an inch. Ever. The entire government train has stopped, all for Trump’s Wall. Time to call it. Like a marriage that’s reached an end, both sides need to just agree to forever and interminably disagree. Never again shall Democrats and Republicans live together. Admit that, and all of us can go on with our lives. Otherwise, what’s the next move for the federal government? RIFs, long-term furloughs, budget freezes?
Hold that thought. The government is not a highly dysfunctional marriage, and there is no divorce option. The COUNTRY outranks both of you assholes. Consider the country to be the kids you (apparently) forgot. Congress needs to figure out how to manage America first.
Look, I know it’s heresy, but consider: why not start The Wall? Cost estimates for Trump’s border wall are low, the same as every single budget line in life. Expect The Wall to cost $35 billion over 8-10 years.
All right, the money for the Border Wall budget has to come from somewhere. Since the bill for border security is far more likely to rise under the Trump xenophobia, the obvious next choice for funding The Wall would be from the defense budget. Easy to do, since we will pull out of all foreign entanglements, including Syria and Afghanistan, and save at least that much. Issue resolved, transfer the $5.7 billion for this year’s installment from the military budgets and cross your fingers that we don’t run out of steel slats before next year.
With the budget issue solved, what’s the holdup? Oh, wait, let’s take a little assessment of the foreign policy impact to reducing national defense by budget cut, and list them out: ISIS and our Kurdish allies in Syria, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia.
Wait, what was that last one?
In the world of conservative political history in the last 50 years, the national defense held a top position in the priority hierarchy. During Ronald Reagan’s era (the beginning of our current conservativist trend), American national defense meant weapons: Star Wars, nuclear wars, tactical wars, Reagan didn’t intend to lose any of those budgetary “paper battles.” During Reagan’s defense initiative in the early 1980s, scientists and tacticians openly agreed that satellite missile defense would not work. However, politics prevailed and ceded to Reagan the moral victory of standing up to the strategic nuclear threat from orbit. Both sides allowed some budget money toward making the fictional dream of anti-nuke satellites a reality, at least on budget paper.
Dems! Take a page from 1984 fiction: fund some money for the wall. The Trump version of nationalist conservatism redefines national defense as border defense and border defense as concrete. Let Trump launch his version of Reagan’s fantasy anti-nuke satellite and start his border wall on the southern border of Texas. The nation can then look forward to the reality checks of this enormous effort, such as 120-degree workdays, lack of available labor, staggering cost overruns and fake news about the great, huge, unbelievable impact on rapists and drug dealers crossing the border. The Democrats need to get off their high horses and play politics, which is a tune the Dems should be able to fake for this round, for the good of the country.
If not, the likes of Coulter, Hannity, and Limbaugh will shame President Trump into holding the federal government workers, services, and systems hostage until 2020. Winning an election seems less important in this context. Most Americans should agree. Since Democrats won’t win the election battle today, maybe leave the fight for another day.
Democrats ought to instead invest in their reputation as the Party of Compromise. Today, the cost includes some seed money for the “Star Wars” Border Wall. Grit your teeth and govern.
