OPINION

Shut It Down

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Turn on any news program and you’ll hear about the “threat of a government shutdown.” Do you feel threatened? Democrats are already blaming Republicans, Republicans are already losing on messaging because that’s what they do. But honestly, who cares? Shut it down. 

We were told during the Obama and Clinton years that government shutdowns were the worst thing that could happen in this country; that they lead to irreparable economic damage. Of course, the stock market rose 1,000 points in one week, bringing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to another new record since Donald Trump became president, while this “threat” loomed over the country. So maybe that threat was overstated.

I don’t want to see the government shuttered out of a desire to see thousands of government employees reminded of the fact that their jobs are “non-essential,” though it’s sad those types of jobs exist. I want to see it closed because the alternative will likely mean Republicans caved on some form of amnesty. 

The reason for the threat of a government shutdown has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility, it has to do with Democrats favoring of illegal aliens over Americans. They won’t support any spending measure to keep the government open unless it includes amnesty for the so-called “DREAMers,” adults who were brought to the United States as kids by their illegal alien parents.

Personally, I don’t care about the DREAMers – if they stay or go, it makes no difference. I’d prefer, if they’re allowed to stay, that they not be granted citizenship but rather permanent residency. I’d also prefer their kids not be granted citizenship. The violation of our national sovereignty should not be rewarded with the most precious status our country can bestow. 

If that was all Democrats wanted, a deal could easily be struck. But, in spite of their public pronouncements about “deep concern” for these illegal aliens, enough is never enough for Democrats. They not only want legal status and a pathway to citizenship for the DREAMers, they want their parents to be allowed to stay. More than that, they want to maintain chain migration, which would mean millions more no- and low-skill people flooding into the country. 

Democrats and progressive Republicans like Senators Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake whine about “breaking up families,” like it’s the responsibility of the United States to keep them together. If these families don’t want to be broken up they can all go home and get in line to immigrate legally together. We wouldn’t be choosing to break them up, they would. 

President Trump has already said he’d sign pretty much anything Congress puts in front of him, but the horrible “bipartisan” deals that have been cut so far have been rejected because they haven’t been bipartisan, they’ve been Democratic bills with a couple of Republicans on board. 

But a real bill to address DREAMers, one with funding for a wall, that ends chain migration, etc., won’t get any support from Democrats because they’d rather have more future Democratic Party voters than protect the borders of the United States. They’d rather have cheap labor for their donor class so lawns get cut and hotels get cleaned than have those jobs for Americans. So shut it down. 

To hell with them. I’ve lived in Detroit and Baltimore and I’m sick of my government prioritizing people in the country illegally over jobs for people in those bombed out, economically depressed cities. I’m over seeing Americans nudged onto public assistance in the name of compassion while politicians proclaim the nobility of illegals who take jobs because they work. I’m sick of all of it, shut it down.

Let these liberals explain to the American people why they favor non-citizens over citizens to the point they’re willing to close the government. Let them explain why it’s more important to “protect” illegal aliens than it is to protect Americans living in Baltimore, where the murder rate rivals third world hellholes. Let them explain to the American people why it’s more important to keep illegal alien families together than it is Americans have jobs so they can take care of theirs. Let them explain. 

And let the American people see how there aren’t gates put up to keep World War II veterans from seeing their open-air memorial. Let them see how Democrats’ obstinance is portrayed by a media that will scramble to blame Republicans for it. 

Shut it down, shut it all down. Let’s have this discussion and decide, once and for all, if this is a nation of laws, or even a nation at all. If Donald Trump and congressional conservatives can’t make that case, can’t win that debate, maybe it isn't.