Bullshit Mountain Erupts: The Government Shutdown

Greetings all!

In a break from my experiment with poetry (which appears to be going well so far), this week I’ve decided it is rightful to address the government shutdown. Seeing as this isn’t a very common event, I’d like to present some ideas for dealing with it, alongside with a slightly new approach to how I structure these pieces. This week’s quote comes from Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest American presidents whose legacy includes emancipation of slaves and the end of the Civil War.

Introduction: What caused the shutdown?

For those not living in the United States, the news of the shutdown of the government is likely not covered highly and/or not paid attention to. Even if it is, I’ve already had to explain to several people what’s going on this week, so I feel it’s a good idea to cover what caused the shutdown, and what it means for my country.

The shutdown occurred Monday, when Republicans and Democrats in Congress could not agree on a budget for the new fiscal year (which starts October 1^st in the United States). House Republicans demanded that the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed “Obamacare” for obvious reasons, be defunded in the budget. Democrats in Congress and President Obama refused to budge, thereby allowing an automatic mechanism to go off which shut down the government.

So, what does the shutdown do?

The shutdown means that all “non-essential” services of the government will now go into remission until a new budget is passed by Congress and approved the president. While this may not seem like a big deal, it means that 800,000 federal workers are furloughed, and while some attempts have been made to ensure they get paid (for instance, active duty military will still be paid, among a few others), there’s a good chance many of these people will not be reimbursed for the foolishness of those in Congress.

Even if all furloughed workers are guaranteed back pay in the end, the shutdown can and will have other negative effects on the American economy. The stock market, while not immediately in decline, will experience shortfalls as the shutdown drags along. This will become especially problematic if the shutdown lasts beyond the point at which the debt ceiling must be raised on October 17^th. If that occurs, the U.S. government will default on its debt, an unprecedented event in American history, and most surely an economic disaster if it happens. At best, the government shutdown would then end due to crisis-management compromises in Congress, and the economy would bounce back in a fashion even more anemic than its current recovery. At worst, a new recession begins.

While the amount of workers being furloughed in the shutdown (representing about 0.34% of the 235 million-member American workforce) is relatively small, the distribution of furloughed workers is where harsh realities kick in. Half of all civilian Department of Defense workers will be furloughed. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will be shuttered even though it is hurricane season and the coasts are vulnerable (FEMA is also mostly closed). OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is closed (if you’re injured on the job that just sucks for you). The EPA is essentially gone. The IRS is not collecting many taxes, thereby making it even harder to pay our bills. The WIC (food stamps for pregnant women and children) are down. The FDA cannot continue to function. All in all, the “non-essential” services of government are actually quite fundamental to our society.

Who is to blame?

First things first, I’d like to note that people saying “this is not a time to shift blame” are spectacularly wrong. We can’t fix a problem if we don’t know where it came from, and here, it is abundantly obvious where the issue originates.

The Republicans in Congress (chiefly the House of Representatives) are wholly at fault for this clusterfuck. While mainly caused by the radical right-wing of the Republican Party known as the Tea Party, mainstream Republicans and House speaker John Boehner have come together to fight against a functioning government. Jon Stewart captured it all wonderfully on the Daily Show this week; the Affordable Care Act is a law. It was passed by Congress and approved by the president. The Supreme Court affirmed it as being constitutional. Obama’s presidential re-election campaign covered it frequently, and he won by a fair margin. At this point, trying to stop Obamacare from happening is like trying to stop a rockslide with a flyswatter.

What can we do to solve this madness?

Much of the domestic debate about the shutdown has surrounded whether furloughed workers should receive back pay and which side in Congress should cave in order to pass a budget and re-open the government. I’m not even going to address the former; those people should be paid, since it’s not their fault they’re stuck at home. I’d prefer it if they were paid and worked as well; I’d like my air and water standards to stay in place even while the government is shutdown.

Instead, I’ll be looking at the latter. There should be no need to “cave” for the Democrats on this one; they are on the side of the law, and therefore have no reason to make concessions. I don’t like the Affordable Care Act, I’ll admit that; it gives far too much power and flexibility to private insurers over citizens and will ensure that prices and quality of care will never become optimal. However, I do not stand with Republicans in demanding this law be destroyed by defunding.

In order to fight the Republicans on this, we as citizens first need to know just how serious this is. Republicans are extorting the president and Congressional Democrats right now. This is not business as usual in Congress; this is not mere incompetence. This is extra-legal, and can be interpreted as a form of treason (though whether these are impeachable offenses could be debated). We must respond in kind.

That means we must go beyond what our normal reactions would be. We cannot just protest in the capital against this stupidity. We should be protesting everywhere we can; in the states these Republicans come from, the districts they were elected to represent. With a 90% incumbency rate in Congress largely due to gerrymandering and low voter turnout for Congressional elections, it is a lot to ask Americans to remember this shutdown until the next election. Even then, it’s more to ask Americans to make sure these Republicans don’t get re-elected. I’d like to believe we can do it, and I encourage us to try.

However, barring that future, if we cannot vote these people out, we must make their lives hell. I urge people under the reign of these Republicans to send countless emails, be persistent with your calls. Overwhelm their staff, send chain emails with nothing even in them if you have to. We might not be able to get rid of Republicans immediately, but we can certainly make life harder for them every step of the way. That’s exactly what I hope we do.

Conclusion

That is all for this week, and I hope I’ve provided a little insight for those out of the loop. As always, your feedback on my work is appreciated, so feel free to comment here. My online accounts on Facebook, Twitter, DeviantArt, Google+, Steam, Tumblr, and Reddit are also open to communication, along with my email at zerospintop@live.com. Thanks for reading, and this is KnoFear, signing off. 

Poem: Rising Son

This week’s poem was a collaborative effort between myself and a friend who wishes to remain anonymous; let’s call him Muhammad. The quote is from Eugene Debs, an influential American socialist.

Rising Son

Born from your love,

second to none.

A house untouched by hate, by anger,

a world none could disrupt.

But you didn’t  want me.

When the other parents asked “Is that your kid?”

you always confirmed.

Whether you liked it or not,

I was yours.

When I was shit at sports, and other parents cringed,

you too cringed and awkwardly smiled.

When the other kids yelled at me, and shouted “You suck!”

you just told me to look away, and we left.

When I tried to draw, and couldn’t do more than stick figures,

you seemed annoyed.

But you showed nothing, nothing but that look

of old disappointment on your graying face.

I could see it in your damned eyes; you didn’t want me.

So you gave up on me, didn’t believe in me,

couldn’t even see me.

So I promised to myself, swore on every inch of humanity I had

that I would prove you wrong.

I worked my hands to the bone,

my mind to dust.

All just so I could know

that you were wrong.

I made each grade seem easier

than the last.

Every test, every assignment, each piece of homework

was just paper to me.

And no matter how much you didn’t want me,

no matter how much you wanted not to care,

I was still your son.

Poem: Freezing Rain

This is the second poem for this week. For the first and info on this week’s quote, make sure to check out my poem, The Village.

Freezing Rain

We met at 12,

both in age and in time.

Seventh grade, science class,

period 6, just after lunch.

We were friends right away,

never a fight between us.

We enjoyed every day,

except riding that shitty bus.

You told me you had AIDS,

born with it, you said.

Took your mother’s life,

and your father, he just left.

I assured you it was fine,

that I’d never hate who you were.

You shook my hand, you said,

“It’s great to have a friend.”

Two years passed us,

flying right on by.

Each good day getting better,

each great day refusing to die.

But you got sicker,

“Just a small thing, no biggie,” you said.

The doctors disagreed,

but I trusted you over the eggheads.

But you got even worse,

stayed in that hospital for days.

I asked if you’d be okay to see the fireworks,

and you promised, “I’ll be out in a few days.”

But that longest day came,

and you got no better.

They called me to the hospital,

and told me, “Be ready.”

So I ran, through freezing rain and darkness,

to your little hospital room.

Barely alive, you grabbed my hand,

told me to listen closely.

And just before your last few moments,

reminded me who I was.

And you were gone.

Poem: The Village

I will be posting two poems tonight, this being the first one. It concerns the Syrian Civil War, and I hope you enjoy. This week’s quote comes from Noam Chomsky, a prolific American linguist and philosopher.

The Village

In a country called Syria,

            A country I called home,

We lived a quiet and peaceful life,

            On the east side of Aleppo.

My family, rooted here,

            Countless generations from past to present.

A world untouched by evil,

            An existence untouched by strife.

            And yet our world changed.

They started chanting, demanding in the street,

            “For freedom!” they shouted, and a man they intended to defeat.

Assad, the man in power, his family in control for years,

            Apparently the devil, one whom deserves no right to rule.

They say we must rebel, we must fight,

            Or we will never know a better life.

But could these men and these women

            Truly promise me a world with even less strife?

They told me I wasn't safe, that I've been hurt,

            But I've never been more secure.

They say there’s no democracy,

            But that’s not what they’re fighting for.

            And yet our world changed again.

The fighting erupted, the rockets and guns,

            No air safe to breath, no street safe to run.

The children, they cried, and the mothers, they screamed,

            Everything they've ever known being torn at the seams.

I never knew this kind of violence,

            And yet I thought I’d be okay.

But I awoke on a sweaty morning,

            Without my mother.

I decided to fight, to side with those who’d kept me safe,

            To fight for the “evil” regime, the ones who never wished to steal a life.

They were not like me, not in the slightest,

            They declared these rebels terrorist fools.

I never wanted to agree with them,

            I never intended to hurt a soul.

            And yet my world changed.

Official Transition: The Experiment

Greetings all!

My month-long hiatus now comes to a close this Labour Day. And now, in what may come as a shock to loyal readers, I will present a format change for my site for the future. From here on out, as part of an attempt to expand my own horizons and skills as a writer, I will be experimenting with publishing my poetry here. I've been writing poems for a fairly long time now, despite having only once or twice shown them to others.

I realize this means I won’t be churning out political essays and such with as much frequency as I normally do. I expect this to be a consequence of my choice, and as such, I will still be taking offers from friends or those ready and willing to contribute guest work if they so choose. Hopefully, this will help to fill the gap. I will also continue to write my own essays, but likely significantly less often, perhaps once a month or so.

To clarify exactly how this will work out, assume that I will write on average two poems a week for this site, if not more. I’m certain a fair portion will be political in nature, so as not to completely disappoint those who have always read my work for its messages. The following poem is the first of what I hope will be many works to come. This week’s quote comes from Mohammad Mosaddegh, an Iranian prime minister who deserves greater recognition nowadays than he gets.

Maybe

Maybe I could have been there,

            for each time I missed it I hurt.

Maybe I could have heard your voice,

            and been soothed into a bittersweet surrender.

Maybe I could have known you better,

            and known a world through your eyes.

Maybe I could have reached over to you,

            and brushed my hand against what was not there, not for me.

            But I never did.

Maybe I could have seen what I was missing,

            but I was blinded by what came before.

Maybe I could have realized it sooner,

            but we were too far apart for me to hear you cry.

Maybe I could have been better for you,

            but the taste of failure drove me away.

Maybe I could have had you,

            but you could not have me.

            And I always loved you. 

Mercury in the Medicine: Indian Privatization

This week’s piece comes from Tigerlegion on DeviantArt. Check his page out, and support his work! Also, the week’s quote is from Elizabeth Warren, an American Senator.

Today, over two decades after India introduced IMF constructed neoliberal economic reform, many Indians are concerned with the evaluation of economic-reforms to find out how the reforms have affected the country's growth, development and ultimately the standard of living of its countrymen. The context in which these reforms may be viewed, is of course, of the era of intensive planning, and high level micro-management, particularly through restrictive production caps. For any economy of India's nature, that being, an underdeveloped, predominantly rural and agrarian economy, would maintain the long term objective of planning not only being to achieve growth, but also to ensure equality as well as eradication of poverty. The success of any economic reform process should thus be judged by the social and economic objectives it achieves, to put it into context with the previous era. In a country like India, reducing poverty level is by far, the most important manifestation of socio-economic progress, signifying improvement in standard of living, such as better health and education.

India as a nation, is founded on the principles of a parliamentary federal government and a progressive, democratic state and society. This theoretical foundation of the Indian state and society is clearly outlined in the constitution of India. The ideas of Fabian socialism and the welfare state also find expression in Part IV of the Constitution on directive principles of state policy. However, these principles are not enforceable in a court of law in contrast to Part III on Fundamental Rights of citizens and communities, which are legally enforceable, which in fact goes against their original role, which was to be an essential regulating mechanism in Indian polity. The constitution is thus at pains to point out, that the directive principles, even though non-justiciable, are to be "fundamental in the governance" of the country. The Supreme Court and High Courts have often invoked the directive principles to buttress their rulings, sometimes even going to the extent of clothing with the status of fundamental rights.

In practice, the Indian state led by the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, initiated a massive strategy of development of what it professedly called "the socialistic pattern of society" by the means of centralized democratic planning. It actually amounted to industrialization under a dominant public sector, in a mixed economy aimed at a nationally reliant industrial economy. This system of autarky proved itself capable to function in many sectors, as displayed by such firms as BHEL. The primary issue arising was not of ability to produce, or quality, but management, which could be avoided as seen in the case of SAIL, the state steel producing firm. Due to further distortions, like the trend of neo-feudal rent-seeking in the public sector and in the governmental apparatus in general, the Indian state was driven to make a paradigm shift to neoliberal capitalist reforms in 1991 to deal with a serious crisis of balance of payment in international trade and the fiscal overload on the government in India (Predominantly due to the oil crisis resulting from the Gulf War), under pressures of an almost neo-feudal rent-seeking by the political and bureaucratic class as well as populist public policies to placate a socially and politically mobilized, and demanding electorate.

At first glance, India appears to be a fairly successful case of a developing democracy in the South both in terms of "free and fair" elections and governance. But if we probe deeper, this impression does not stand up-to scrutiny. With the neoliberal shift in the economic policy in India, especially since 1991, two major trends have evidently gathered momentum. These are the rise in the clout of the capitalist classes in the industrial, commercial, service, agricultural sectors, and the rise of politics of identity and ethnicity, most strongly mobilized in the form of the increasingly fascist Hindutva (many groups such as the RSS organized on Nazi party and fascist lines, and expressing admiration for such groups) in the national arena and a variety of regional parties based on religious, caste, and tribal identities. There has also been an unprecedented growth of the weeds of corruption and criminalization of politics since the rise of neoliberalism in the Indian political economy. It is not to be said that these vices were non-existent prior to the neoliberal shift; rather that they have become more endemic since then.

The foregoing new trends in the Indian polity have had a considerable corrosive effect on the elections, party system, and governance. Corruption and criminalization of politics have made the elections an affair of the rich and powerful, by and large. This point is illustrated by the number and proportion of "Crorepatis" (individuals residing in residences with a net worth of over 10 million rupees.) in the 15th Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), elected in 2009. The proportion is a clear majority. Similarly chilling data exists on those charged with crime in the 15th Lok Sabha. In the Lok Sabha as a whole, 57.8 percent, or 315 of 545 MPs (Members of parliament) are Crorepatis. In the two major national parties the percentage of such members is as high as 70 percentage in the Indian National Congress and 50 percent in the Bharatiya Janata Party. In several regional or nominally national parties the figures are also quite high or in fact higher. The percentages of the charged MPs in the two major national parties are 37.93 in the BJP and 21.36 in the INC. As a whole, 162 of 545, or 29.7 percent of MPs have been charged with various crimes.

In ideological and democratic vacuity, none of the major political parties can mobilize genuine grassroots support. In the legislative arenas too, the fragmentation of the party system is sought to be bridged by immoral coalitions for governance and opposition through political maneuvering corruption, and crime. Politics of defection that first surfaced in India in the aftermath of the 1967 general election have continue, despite the 1985 Anti-defection Act incorporated in the 10th schedule of the Constitution. In fact, the bribing of legislators to win confidence vote, not only in states where it first made appearance in the late 1960s, but also in the Parliament in New Delhi, has become an uncontrolled and recurrent political menace. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bribery case decided by the Supreme Court in 1999 indicting the P.V. Narasimha Rao Congress minority Government brought out the extent of moral and legal decadence to which Indian democracy has descended. In addition, instances of bribes for raising questions in the Parliament, selling of ministerial and parliamentarians' discretion in allotment of services and utilities, and economic and political scams, etc. have enormously multiplied since the 1990s. The biggest among the scams being investigated at present are the cases relating to the 2-G spectrum allocations by the telecom ministry, the Commonwealth Games of 2010, and the Adarsha Housing Society allotments in Mumbai, all involving the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Governments in New Delhi and Maharashtra. There are scams galore also at the state level, involving all political parties and governments across the board. Perhaps for the first time in Indian politics, ministers and MPs of the ruling dispensation have been put behind the bars in the course of investigation in the 2-G spectrum and the Commonwealth Games cases. The leakage of taped conversations of Nira Radia who was lobbying first for the Tatas and later for Mukesh Ambani have revealed how the corporate capitalist sector has begun to influence the news and views of supposedly free media and even the allocation of ministerial portfolios in the federal coalition governments headed by national parties like the Indian National Congress and steered by supposedly clean politicians like Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.

Another remarkable, or rather terrifying trend which has largely emerged in conjecture with the reforms, is the rise of the Hindu nationalist (see fascist), and "secular" right wing, being the BJP and INC respectively.  None of the two major national parties (the Indian National Congress and The Bharatiya Janata Party) appear to have viable political alternatives in governance and development. One is democratically stymied by dynastic control, not only as seen in Prime Ministers (Although a significant bulk of Nehru and Indira Gandhi's measures were undeniably pro-people, The Emergency aside), but MPs, and the other is democratically debilitated by its nexus with non-democratic Hindu traditional Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and neo-Hindu conservative Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), both of which have been associated with atrocities against minorities such as the 2002 Gujarat Pogroms, and openly admire Hitler and the Nazis. Hindu communalism and neoliberalism have become its staple programme. The Congress has lost its former socialist inclined progressive programmatic posture of Nehru as well as political populism of Indira Gandhi. It exists in an ideological vacuum, so to say, since its acceptance of the neoliberal capitalist persuasion, on the one hand, and contingent political populism under the pressure of "vote bank" politics, on the other. The Indian mainstream left wing, which electorally survived the global onslaught of neoliberalism until the 2009-10, continuously ruling in West Bengal since 1977, in Tripura, and intermittently in Kerala, has now been badly mauled. While in recent years, many of their actions, such as the Maruti factory incident, are questionable, their achievements are undeniable in terms of social indicator development. While far from revolutionary, their social policy and opposition to neoliberal crimes continues to be a significant force, as is their influence in Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura, and other states, and their role in the trade union system. The regional political theater is sadly devoid of any viable democratic alternatives on the whole, even for their respective states, to say nothing of the national or federal politics.

The sites of democratic political action that rightfully belong to the party-political processes have been practically vacated by the political parties. The decline and stagnation of the party system is therefore being partly compensated by judicial activism, investigative journalism, civil society movements against corruption like those of Anna Hazare, and new social movements on environment and ecology, quality of life and services, child rights and gender justice, administrative and political transparency and accountability, and human rights in general. But the sustainability of these factors and trends depends on the overall extent of repression, which has been seen emerging through mass surveillance, extrajudicial executions, and the police-political party complex. It is sad to note, that this is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Weekly News of August 18th

No post this week. However, I can tell you I plan on doing some experimentation with this site in the near future, so expect that either next week or the week after. By then, normality will be resumed. This week’s quote is from Fidel Castro, a perennial Cuban leader who recently celebrated his birthday.

Report: 97 percent of new U.S. jobs are part-time

Students offered grants if they tweet pro-Israeli propaganda

The Colombian government is slaughtering its peasant farmers for their land

Egypt's day of shame: Scores killed and hundreds more injured as government declares war on Islamists

NSA, DEA, IRS lie about fact that Americans are routinely spied on by our government: Time for a special prosecutor

How Wisconsin could turn austerity into prosperity: Own a bank

Increased stray gas in abundance in a subset of drinking water wells near Marcellus shale gas extraction

A major American city is officially fed up with Comcast

The 'Wild West' of groundwater: Billion-dollar Nestlé extracting B.C.’s drinking water for free

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

No banker left behind

Layoff Taboo, Japan workers sent to the bored room

Schroedinger's price index