This unpaid fed worker gets it: prolong shutdown to cut 85% of govt, permanently

[bigsly]

As one of the senior officials working without a paycheck, a few words of advice for the president’s next move at shuttered government agencies: lock the doors, sell the furniture, and cut them down.

Federal employees are starting to feel the strain of the shutdown. I am one of them. But for the sake of our nation, I hope it lasts a very long time, till the government is changed, and can never return to its previous form.

The lapse in appropriations is more than a battle over a wall. It is an opportunity to strip wasteful government agencies for good.

If this fight is merely rhetorical bickering with Nancy Pelosi, we all lose, especially the president. But if it proves that government is better when smaller, focusing only on essential functions that serve Americans, then President Trump will achieve something great that Reagan was only bold enough to dream.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/14/smoke-out-resistance/

This is what this shutdown should be all about, as any border wall value in comparison is figuratively nothing compared to permanently eliminating the current, massive bureaucratic waste in federal government today. And doing so would energize Trump's base exponentially more than even their love for the wall. But, I do not believe Trump has either the patriotic fortitude or nerve to seriously implement this strategy.

However, if he simply starts talking about using the shutdown to permanently eliminate most of the present federal government, as if he was truly serious, I imagine a lot more Democrats would immediately start pressuring their leadership to compromise on the wall instead of chancing Trump going even further (as many Dems are already advising without any talk yet of bureaucracy elimination).

"This shutdown provides us with the perfect opportunity to really scrutinize the avalanche of bureaucratic waste throughout all federal government. It's looking like about 85% of all government right now. Sad. Really, really sad. The shutdown now gives me the free time to start eliminating as much of that waste I as legally can without Nancy and Chuck's say at all. And that's what I'm going to do."

 

[Kirkrapine]

For some reason, whenever some specific agency or program is targeted for elimination, it turns out the people would rather keep it.

 

[BotanyBoy]

For some reason, whenever some specific agency or program is targeted for elimination, it turns out the people would rather keep it.

No....a group of people start shrieking and the loudest squeals get the grease.

Also because people are fucking lazy and it's easier to just give a group of shriekers what they want than to get up from dinner and take the screaming child out to the parking lot so they can cry it out and get the fuck over it.

 

[Hal9000_]

Of course, the first agencies to get the axe are the ones that actually do something and are good for the people.

Now, if the The entire legislative and executive branches went on furlough, the shutdown would end in a heartbeat.

 

[DappleDoxie]

Of course, the first agencies to get the axe are the ones that actually do something and are good for the people.

Now, if the The entire legislative and executive branches went on furlough, the shutdown would end in a heartbeat.

Furlough the White House staff & interns, as well as Senate and Congressional staff & interns and maintenance, suspend their pay and benefits/insurance ... I think The People might get a quicker resolution.
Oh ... and let D.C. shut off the water since the bill is late.

 

[Maeven_quinn]

President cheeto and the GOP have long held gov’t agencies in contempt.

I’m not sure if the dems would fold if this was about federal workers though. Their base wants them to fight, and nobody except the cult members of the GOP blame them for the stalemate.

 

[Hal9000_]

Furlough the White House staff & interns, as well as Senate and Congressional staff & interns and maintenance, suspend their pay and benefits/insurance ... I think The People might get a quicker resolution.
Oh ... and let D.C. shut off the water since the bill is late.

Damn right.

As for my other point, Don is already threatening to use disaster relief funds to pay for "the wall". (I think "the wall" is in reality massive detention centers).

In other words, "85% of government" will not be cut. Funds will just be shifted.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Furlough the White House staff & interns, as well as Senate and Congressional staff & interns and maintenance, suspend their pay and benefits/insurance ... I think The People might get a quicker resolution.
Oh ... and let D.C. shut off the water since the bill is late.

That's not necessary, just furlough the White House Spray Tan Booth attendant and voilà (or "walla", in Ishmael-speak) the crisis will be over by nightfall.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

So, your solution is some crazy anarcho-capitalist wet dream where most of the Federal Government ceases to exist and we return to a Gilded Age economy with massive pollution, starvation wages, horrid workplace safety, and backbreaking hours? Yeah, enjoy your new status as the underclass in a world where the barons of industry reign unchecked again and turn all of us into serfs as they would have if the Gilded Age hadn't ended when it did.