Zealots who don't care about our Government

If the government shuts down, so will Peace Corps headquarters. This will mean a skeletal crew there, and no work getting done. It might mean that my trip home will be delayed, and more egregious, that PCVs all over the world will not get their meager allowances. It’s small potatoes, but it’s the trickle down effect of a government shutdown.

The only good thing for some of us PCVs on medevac is that we are ‘stuck’ in Washington. The government’s a mess, but the city is beautiful. We can enjoy the unfolding spring, the cherry blossoms, the greening of trees, nice sunsets, and good friends. My daughter Elissa went back to Ohio on Tuesday, but we had a nice dinner at an outdoor Harbourside restaurant the night before with friends Howard and Don. These are the small joys of being in DC.

Outside of that, there is the drama of politics at its lowest level. America is in the grip of an ideological minority who doesn’t care about consequences, who care only about pushing their agenda. That agenda involves cuts in education, arts, cancer research, NPR, medicare quarantees for seniors, programs for workers and the working poor. Their drastic cutting doesn't of course include tax cuts for the richest Americans and corporations who don't pay anything. Just the opposite: they extend tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and tax breaks for large corporations.

“Shut it down,” a tea party Republican screams gleefully at a tea party rally outside the capitol. “Shut it down!”

Isn’t this great? A lawmaker who doesn’t care. What responsible lawmaker would want this? Just shut the government down? “My way or the highway?” Why doesn’t Obama jump on this outrageous behavior? Call it for what it is: protecting the wealthy, screwing the middle class, workers, the poor. This is not about “reining in government spending.” This is about the arrogance of right-wing zealots who don’t care about the US government at all. It’s truly appalling.