Shutdown the Federal Government
Have you ever tried to change a light bulb in a lamp that belongs to the Federal Government? It’s laughably sad, but illustratively eye opening when you land on the topic of the Federal Government shutting down.
An acquaintance of mine, a civil engineer with the Corp of Engineers once conveyed to me a story about the lamp in his cubicle at work; you see, the bulb had burnt out and need to be replaced. This was his first month as a Federal employee, and being “the new guy” he felt it was best that he display some of the “go-getter” attitude that would normally be rewarded in the private sector by just replacing the bulb himself.
When he asked the engineer in the cubicle next to his where the supply closet was so he could retrieve and install a new bulb – he was gawked at, and then informed that he could not replace the bulb himself, a work order would need to be submitted.
That work order would then go to the facilities maintenance team who would then need to send someone to confirm the light bulb was indeed burnt out. This person would then need to bring in a requisitions team member to inspect the lamp, to double check that it was in fact burnt out, and to ascertain what part number the light bulb was to be able to order a replacement.
The requisition officer would then need to place the bulb on a purchase order – which needed to go to a supervisor for authorization before it could be submitted to purchasing. Which supervisor? All of them. The engineers supervisor needed to sign off on his team member NEEDING the bulb, maintenance needed to sign off on the bulb actually being burnt out, and requisitions needed to sign off on the bulb being a part that they could order.
Only then could the replacement light bulb be ordered. It would then take weeks for the bulb itself to arrive from the Government contracted provider to the requisitions department who would then log it into inventory and inform facilities that their part had arrived.
Another form now, one from facilities to requisitions asking for the bulb to be withdrawn from inventory in order to replace a burnt out bulb – signed by supervisors of course. Requisitions would then sign the bulb out and dispatch it internally via the mail clerk to the facilities maintenance department, who would both log it in and then back out with a technician for installation at the engineer’s desk.
This process involved no less than a half dozen people, multiple levels of management, one external private contractor, and 3 weeks of time – to replace a light bulb at a desk. When the technician arrived at the desk to replace the bulb he found that the light was working and no longer in need of replacement.
The engineer, fed up with not having a working light at his station had taken the burnt out bulb to a local hardware store and bought a replacement himself.
The Federal Government is fresh off of a shutdown, and in a short time will begin another shutdown if a funding deal is not met between House Democrats and President Trump and one has to wonder if that is such a bad thing? The Federal Government has grown to such a large behemoth that nobody can even say with absolute certainty how many agencies and departments actually exist anymore. All we do know is that they all need funded, and they all have light bulbs to replace.
With our national debt continuing to increase at an unsustainable rate, and layers upon layers of bureaucracy driving those costs up, perhaps a Federal Shutdown is exactly what we need right now. Just like a malfunctioning computer, it may be time to “turn it off and then on again” as tech support would advise. Then, to continue my use of IT tips and tricks, it might be time to delete some cookies, wipe the cache, and format a hard drive or two.
During my campaign for Congress one thing that, now, Representative Russ Fulcher and I often said in unison was that the Federal Government was too big. I advocated for reducing it, and its oversight, by as much as 80% and Rep. Fulcher agreed.
I say shut the Government down, and while the lights are off – trim the fat as much as possible. Maybe recall some of the old guard Congress-members responsible for bloating the Fed to its current morbidly obese size?
The views, opinions, or positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions of Redoubt News. Social Media, including Facebook, has greatly diminished distribution of our stories to our readers’ newsfeeds and is instead promoting Main Stream Media sources. This is called ‘Shadow-banning’. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you. Please support our coverage of your rights. Donate here: Paypal.me/RedoubtNews
“Show me where in the US Constitution the….”
Why not acknowledge the fact that those who were at the crime scene warned about the consequences of allowing the usurpation from a Federal, voluntary, association, to a National, involuntary one?
George Mason, and many others, can show you where those dangers, and more, are written in the U.S. Constitution of 1787. The document replaced the organic, grass-roots, Articles of Confederation. The document was illegally framed, formed, and illegally enforced. The document creates a national government. The so-called GENERAL government is not federal in any true sense of the word. The National government is a despotic government corporation contract, made despotic by design, and those who wrote it intended to TAKE the authority to do whatever those in control of it wanted to do, and wanted to do with impunity.
“Among the enumerated powers, Congress are to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, and to pay the debts, and to provide for the general welfare and common defence; and by that clause (so often called the sweeping clause) they are to make all laws necessary to execute those laws. Now, suppose oppressions should arise under this government, and any writer should dare to stand forth, and expose to the community at large the abuses of those powers; could not Congress, under the idea of providing for the general welfare, and under their own construction, say that this was destroying the general peace, encouraging sedition, and poisoning the minds of the people? And could they not, in order to provide against this, lay a dangerous restriction On the press? Might they not even bring the trial of this restriction within the ten miles square, when there is no prohibition against it? Might they not thus destroy the trial by jury?”
George Mason, June 6, 1788
Fraud and treason can be propagandized to a point where the victims actually call it legalese, or prosecutorial misconduct, or bad behavior, just as the crime of slavery can be propagandized to a point where the victims of it actually believe that it is necessary for their economy. Dupes are dupes for demonstrable reasons, for example, you can’t show a dupe that they are one. If you could, then they wouldn’t be a dupe anymore.
Show me where in the US Constitution the GENERAL (federal) government was DELEGATED any authority dealing with Land management (BLM), Forestry (USFS), and environement within the USA (EPA) because as far as I can tell within the contract (US Constitution) that created and delegates the duties for, the “federal” government those things are NOT listed, so are NOT duties delegated to the “federal” government.
Those agencies are just those serving within the general (federal) government USURPING powers they do not LAWFULLY have.
A joke from the Soviet Union….A Russian had finally earned enough “Social Credits” to qualify for a car. After paying in advance, he found that he would have to wait – ten years – for delivery of his Moskovtich, but the Bureaucrat he was dealing with assured him that on X day of February, in X year, his car would be ready…The citizen asked : “Will that be in the morning on X day, or in the afternoon ?..Why do you ask ? said the bureaucrat….well…the plumber is coming that morning…….Mr Henderson has good intentions, and indeed, those “Multitude of offices… (read “Agencies).. sent hither to harass us and eat out our substance” must be defanged…diminished..and in many cases decommissioned. Having been deeply involved in fighting outfits like BLM, USFS, and EPA, I’ll testify that they are little better than organized crime. BUT ! Getting rid of them will never happen in DC…The most that Mr Henderson or Mr Fulcher will ever accomplish in Washington is to chip away at the worst excess. The Rightful Remedy – Jefferson’s phrase – will take place along state lines, when states and localities say NO ! to these Federal Janissaries, refuse to comply with their Dictat, and make federal rule a dead letter……