Shrink government by ignoring it

I hope that sometime in the next century, Republicans in Congress will have the courage, during budget negotiations, to call the Democrats' bluff, and shut down the government.

Let them "drop the big one," as Randy Newman would say, and "see what happens." Only one-third of federal services - "nonessential" ones - would cease. It wouldn't actually be a shutdown; more of a streamlining. When it becomes clear that what passed for a functioning government was in fact a waste of time and money, perhaps voters may forgive the GOP for its rash common sense.

And why discuss now the question of "pre-existing conditions" as regards health insurance? It's an absurdity. Insurance, by definition, precludes any condition already existing. One cannot buy life insurance for a deceased spouse, or purchase automobile insurance, after the fact, for a vehicle already wrecked. Even to entertain such a thought is silly. Yet this has not stopped our legislators from making some provisions for "pre-existing conditions" in the bill which recently passed the House. Why was the matter even debated? It is because Americans don't really want true insurance; they want guarantees and fake "rights." If the bill becomes law, then we have guaranteed stupidity for ourselves, because the cost of financing an absurdity is beyond comprehension.

I wish we had simply waited until Obamacare collapsed on its own. It is at the moment staggering on wobbly legs, bereft of exchange insurers. I wish President Trump would leave vacant all those administrative and judicial positions waiting to be filled. One way to shrink government is simply to ignore it.

America was once just 13 colonies with one noble purpose. Then it became a fledgling government uniting a free nation. Now?

Now it's a bureaucratic empire, recycling people's wallets into good, useless intentions.

Alexander Lee

West Chicago