Pining for a Real Federal Shutdown

The federal government is on the verge of “shutting down” due to a disagreement over minuscule budget cuts. Of course, the shutdown will hardly effect much of what government does: Social Security checks will be paid, the military will still be deployed and fighting, and good luck trying to get out of paying taxes to the feds.

And, as this article points out, a federal shutdown actually costs taxpayers more. Talk about a “Catch-22.” The federal government sticks it to taxpayers every day while it is operating and hammers us even more when it “shuts down.”

What needs to happen is for taxpayers to demand that Washington simply abandon much of what it does. Block granting Medicaid to the states, for example, would save an impressive $114 billion over 10 years and would likely result in tremendous improvement in a system that, as it currently works, has a nasty “low-wage trap.”

So, I won’t be cheering the current “shutdown,” rather I’m looking for more leaders who will return the federal government to its proper bounds.