Federal Government Shutdown

The federal government has been shutdown for two weeks now, and aside from the national parks being closed, no one seems to have noticed.  And the parks being shutdown is an artificial consequence, deliberately designed to antagonize the public, and make certain employees feel better about the value of their jobs.  If no one noticed the shutdown having any major effect on them, it would not look good for the federal government.

The whole situation just goes to show how over-sized and over-priced the federal government has become.  Life goes on without them, and while admittedly only the "nonessential" workers have been sent home, (for no real reason, with full pay) they clearly fill roles that are not necessarily required.  And actual concern for the good of the "people" doesn't even seem to be an issue on the table, even though that is the entire reason that government exists in the first place.  The fact that everyone will be paid in full eventually, and there were extra costs incurred means that the whole shutdown will have no upside to anyone.  If it was at least saving us money to help solve the budget crisis, I would be in favor of it continuing indefinitely.  But as it is, Congress is just continuing to dig themselves a deeper hole every day.

I am not an anarchist, but I do firmly believe that smaller government is better government.  Reagan had lots of good quotes on that topic that I really like.  There are certain roles that are best filled by a central authority, like national defense, or setting standards for communication and commerce.  But most other services can be better provided by smaller, more local entities.  There is no excuse for social security or welfare to be run at the federal level, and definitely not healthcare, which is the issue at hand.  While there are economies of scale, many things in life don't scale well.  Church is a great example of this, and past a couple hundred people, something is lost in the process.  Government is the same way, and while I am not sure where the line is, I am confident that it is well short of a $2 Trillion budget and a $16 Trillion debt.

I fear/expect that the US will not exist in its current form within the next fifty years.  The only real questions are how it changes, and whether the existing state governments can be utilized to make that transition less violent and painful for the citizens.  Since the power of the states in constantly declining in deference to the expansion of the federal government, it would seem that it would be better in the long run, for things to get shaken up sooner rather than later.  Maybe if the government shutdown was permanent, or if that triggered larger changes, that would be for the better.  Now the selfish/scared part of me doesn't want to have to deal with that kind of change anytime soon, but I don't have much control over when that happens anyway.