CNN had a list of horrible things that were happening on Day 35 of the “shutdown,” but now it looks like we’re on the path to “reopening” the government. Breathe a big sigh of relief, right? Republicans rightly stood their ground, and Democrats caved. I didn’t expect that, but kudos to the Republicans for finally showing some backbone.

With reference to some points brought up by the CNN article (they thought of a lot more than I could, frankly), what pain did we actually feel?

Some government workers weren’t paid. The “essential” ones were asked to work without pay. My daughter is one of them, and went to work faithfully every day during the entire shutdown without getting a paycheck with no complaints. But she knew she would, eventually. Happens every time. She didn’t take a paid vacation like many others did. Loyalty and patience are virtues most should learn. She’s also learned not to live paycheck-to-paycheck in case things like this happen, which could (and does) occur in the private sector as well. When you’re fired or laid off in the private sector, there is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for severance pay. Government workers should feel the same risks as those in the private sector. As for the “non-essential” government workers that were furloughed… I’m sorry, did I miss you at all? Nope. Maybe you shouldn’t be paid retroactively for your time off, or maybe the need for your job should be questioned, or perhaps even privatized if your job is important to someone.

Some government workers didn’t show up. Well, if critical professions like air traffic controllers were privatized, that wouldn’t be a problem, right?

Some National Parks were closed. Yawn.

SNAP benefits were delayed or cut back. How horrible! What are the hopelessly indigent people to do? Well, find work, for one thing. Or go to any of the dozens of local food pantries for another. My community has many, many food pantries run by charitable organizations and churches and hundreds of volunteers. Nobody goes hungry. My wife and I have helped pack meals several times at one very large food rescue and distribution center in South Bend, Indiana (please -- no Mayor Pete jokes). The best part about localized food pantries is that nutritious food most usually goes to people truly in need, not those who use the benefits to buy junk food at the grocery store. Frankly, my community would do just fine without SNAP benefits. We need to learn how neighbors should help neighbors once again.

Flu, Covid-19 and RSV data aren’t being updated. Oh darn. Tell me again why I need the government to provide this critical information daily, that couldn’t wait a few months? When our local school district was debating whether to force masks on kids during COVID, our community lashed out their objection in an emergency school board meeting. The administrator, bless his heart, tried to compromise with the idea that rules could be allowed to change daily based on rolling average “infection rate” data. I called BS on that, because published “infection rates” aren’t based on any statistically relevant population; it’s based solely on who goes to the doctor and gets tested (which was going to happen whether you had cold symptoms or a broken finger), which is biased heavily from other contributing factors than COVID, so it is a completely uncontrolled statistical model. His response? (Insert deer in headlights emoji here.) Result? Our schools didn’t force masks on kids and we had a great year!

Obamacare premiums will go “way up.” What did they call Obamacare? Oh yeah… the “Affordable Care Act.” I will repeat what hundreds of others have said… if it’s so “affordable,” why does it costs so much? Abolish it. I embrace Trump’s proposal to send the money to taxpayers and let them choose their own HSA. I had an HSA for years and it was wonderful. Being able to pay cash for services drastically dropped the cost of those services. Twice I paid only $600 for MRI’s that would have otherwise been billed to an insurance company at least five times that.

Mortgage delays. All mortgages should be privatized. Period.

No new SBA loans for small businesses. I’ve started several small businesses. Most successful, some not. At one point I had sold/mortgaged everything I owned on one of my largest ventures, even after obtaining a private unsecured loan from my bank. If I couldn’t get a private bank loan, it probably means my business model was poor. Why should taxpayers, then, bear the risk burden of poor business models? Abolish the SBA.

Finally, IRS operations have been limited. Cry me a river.

Since “government shutdowns” seem to happen all the time these days, perhaps the real question to ask is what steps do we need to take so we don’t care anymore?

Image: AFGE