Monday, March 14, 2011

Who's Afraid Of A Government Shutdown?


Who's afraid of a government shutdown? Not the Indiana fleebaggers if we take them at their word. At first when the Indiana House Democrats fled to Urbana,Illinois most hoosier thought it was a bad case of "monkey see monkey do". Now that Wisconsin Democrats are crawling back to Madison most thought the Indiana caucus would follow their example and get down to the serious work of"doing the people's work". Not so. Democrats say they'll remain in Illinois until Republicans negotiate compromises on the bills. Republicans say they'll consider Democrats' amendments to bills, but House Speaker Brian Bosma says he won't cut a back room deal or take agenda items off the table. What if the majority does not bow to the wishes of the minority? Well, they will just remain out of state until the Republicans cave.
Do the Democrats relish their minority status that much? They may be on the verge of killing off an entire generation of Democratic politicians and plunging headlong into an age of ridicule and irrelevance.
As of June 30 the State of Indiana will not be able to function unless a budget bill is passed. Like a federal shutdown essential services would continue but in Indiana's case "essential" means state police and prison guards. No state fair, no state engineers on construction projects, no unemployment checks and no Medicaid.
There is no provision in the Indiana constitution for removing a legislator either by recall or impeachment so in theory the state could be on short rations until January of 2013. Surely the Democrats can't be that dumb! Will this be what democracy looks like?

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