The Sequester Pinches An "Essential" Service

First published in March 2013


Both political parties, or factions within those two parties, often make dire predictions of what will happen if the other side gets its way. Recently it's been the Obama administration and Democrats telling the public that the country might just dry up and blow away if the so called "sequester" went into effect, although previously Republicans predicted the whole thing would be terrible, mainly because of defense cuts. The reality of the situation then saw the Democrats back away from the terrible predictions they had been foretelling. There will be consequences due to the sequester, but unless you're one of the people apt to lose your job quickly or have your hours trimmed, there won't be excruciating pain for most Americans, at least not right away, and maybe never. Just as tax cuts and stimulus programs take time to have a positive effect, cuts take time to have a negative effect. What effect the 85 billion in cuts will have on the economy remains to be seen, and it may take a couple of months or so before we have some inkling of an answer. Presently, the most visible sign of the cuts is the halt to White House tours, a plan that has drawn the ire of some Republicans. You know the Republicans, right? They're the party that seems to want government to go away, except to fight wars. Government can't regulate Wall Street, can't protect consumers from predatory banks and credit card companies, can't help uninsured Americans with health care, can't tax the wealthy, can't regulate pollution, and a number of other cant's. Well now they're saying those "cant's" are superseded by another "can't;" that is, the government "can't" stop giving tours of the White House, obviously a life or death program, seemingly right up there with fighting wars.

After their defeat in the 2008 election, the GOP opposed President Obama at every step on the economy, predicting dire consequences if he/we didn't do what they recommended, which was what they had been recommending and practicing since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981; that is, tax cuts, especially for the "sit on their ass class," I mean, "the job creators," as they have terrible concerns for the plight of millionaires and billionaires, and they seek to help them pile millions on top of more millions on top of billions, including by blatant attempts to destroy America's unions. You know unions, don't you? They schemed to market securities backed by bad mortgages, mortgages they knew to be bad, sending the world into a financial crisis. Oh ... wait a second. That wasn't unions, was it? Well, but then of course there are those damned poor people. Can't they just go away? Wealthy people wouldn't have to listen to all this stuff about the income gap and inequality. Now there's a new Pope known for being an advocate for the poor. Look out Donald Trump, you might have to pay a little more in taxes if this Pope starts to speak out for more equality. No wonder Trump can't get his hair done right, he's overwhelmed with taxes. The Pope should be saying, "Be a Christian and help a millionaire."   

The Republicans of the 1960s were nowhere near as vicious as those of today, but some then too vehemently opposed the implementation of Medicare for America's seniors, just as some opposed the passage of Social Security in the 1930s, another program that has just bugged the absolute hell out them. The problem for them and their big business, egomaniac allies has been, the public, including many Republican voters, came to embrace these two programs wholeheartedly. Still, today's hardcore Republican opponents of these programs haven't given up on destroying things they can't get their hands on. On top of everything else, now no White House tours. The country is in dire peril!    

WORD HISTORY:
Can-This is the verb meaning "to be able to do something, to know how to do something, have the knowledge to do." My guess is, most English speakers are unaware that "can" is closely related to "know." It goes back to Indo European "gnoh," which had the notion of "to have knowledge." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "kunnanan," with the same general meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon), "cunnan," which later became "connen," with the first and third person singular present being "can." The infinitive form then changed to the shorter "can." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German and Low German Saxon have "können" (1st & 3rd person singular present tense "kann"); Dutch has "kunnen/kan;" West Frisian has "kinne," Icelandic has "kunna/kann," Danish has "kunne/kan," Norwegian has "kunne/kan," and Swedish has "kunna/kan."