By Dr. Samori Swygert

The secret is out!  The government of the United States of America is officially SHUTDOWN!  This may come as no surprise to many citizens.  The Democrats and Republicans have come to a stalemate yet again.  The citizens are again the collateral damage in the clash of egos, arrogance, philosophy, and greed.

This repetitive battle has become an infuriating conundrum among the people.  As citizens, we work hard, sacrifice, and pay taxes.  The government’s payroll, and services operate off the tax base of our hard earned money.  However, members of congress are embracing the belief that they can operate with impunity, unaccountability, and still receive a paycheck for not doing their jobs.

Tea Party members and Republicans have a consistent complaint of their American tax dollars going to welfare programs.  Many of these individuals feel that their money will be funding citizens that won’t work, and just collect a paycheck!  Ironically, they are exercising the exact accusations they make of individuals on welfare now.  Our congress men and women decided not to work, and still collect a paycheck for services not rendered.

We’ve been indoctrinated with  the hypocrisy of cliched patriotic slogans, and mottos.  Routinely we hear: “Liberty and Justice for All, In God We Trust, Be Patriotic,  Provide Humanitarian Aid, This land is your land-This land is my land”.  When do we get past the platitudes and elegant rhetoric of an American Utopia?  The fact is, America is broken, been broken, and is currently breaking!

Where is the true sense of God, humanity, and patriotism?  Our elected officials should be harangued, and lambasted out of office.  Their actions demonstrate that they have no HEART or CONSCIENCE.  Approximately 890,000 individuals will be out of a job due to their lack of commitment to the citizens they pledged to serve.  I say, “even one day out of work is too much!”  

 Many people are so financially strapped in this economy, that each dollar of their paycheck is itemized and accounted for in their household budget before it’s spent.  The wealth gap has expanded tremendously that the line between middle class and poor has dissolved.  I have long felt that we are a society of “haves and have nots”,  but this makes it evidently clear if you had prior doubts.

How do we continue to embrace these insults?  They have dismantled Affirmative Action, which was put in place to show some form of acknowledgement of wrong done to blacks, and that got watered down and diluted  to the point that anybody fits the criteria.  They have dismantled the Voting Rights Act.  They have dismantled the SNAP program that provided welfare and public assistance to struggling families.  They have closed public schools and allowed the privatization of charter schools to flourish.

They have tried numerous times to increase the interest rates on student loans.   They have allowed the proliferation and privatization of prisons.  They have allowed the shipping of manufacturing jobs overseas, which increases the U.S. unemployment rate, and allow multinational corporations to warehouse $32 Trillion dollars in offshore accounts, but then complain about a debt ceiling!  They allow companies like McDonald’s and Walmart to profiteer off employees with out paying them wages that are congruent to the contemporary living standards.  Families are going into bankruptcies and foreclosures from predatory loan lenders.

They allow banks and other financial institutions to operate while conducting all kinds of monetary malfeasance, and get away with Golden Parachutes and slaps on the wrists.  Many CEOs have even been given bonuses.  We want wars overseas, and still haven’t processed the VA hospital benefits of over   860,000 veterans.  So 860,000 veterans benefits have yet to be fully processed, and about 890,000 citizens are out of work?  Urban renewal and gentrification is occurring nationwide.  IS ANYONE TALLYING THE ENORMITY AND TOTALITY OF THIS DATA? Is this America?

Members of congress have amassed so much in pay, and have accumulated so much from corporate lobbyists that they feel they are above the fray ,and are immune or exempt from any kind of scrutiny and punitive actions.  Maybe they feel secure because they have insulated their family, friends, finances, and partnerships from the impending collapse of the American economic system.  Maybe they are comfortable and able to retreat to the security of quiet luxury homes, estates, condos, private schools, and suburban fortresses.

It’s convenient to embrace these “Disneyland Kumbaya Moments”, when there is national tragedy such as hurricanes, earthquakes, mass shootings, and acts of terror.  However, what happens to the continuum of humanity and care for your fellow citizen, neighbor, and brother when the National Day of Prayer is over, and individuals go back to their separate realities of life?

890,000 citizens out of work is unacceptable and represent 890,000 households affected by these political wargames.  Our congressmen and women need  to comeback to the negotiation table or need to be kicked out the house.  American families, children, elderly, and infirmed have no time for this grandstanding.  STOP PLAYING WITH OUR LIVELIHOOD, and that goes to both political parties!