Sick of Washington

This column is titled “North Fork Views” because that is where my focus it – on the North Fork of the Flathead. I admit, I am biased and there is no guarantee that I am always right. Right or wrong, my intentions are always to promote the welfare of the North Fork as a special place that needs to be protected for our descendants.

Thus, occasionally, I consider it necessary to talk about things other than the North Fork because they threaten us directly or indirectly. Today is one of those times.

As I write this, our government is shut down – again. Our political leaders have yet again failed to fulfill their main duty, to approve a federal budget. In shutting down the government, thousands of federal employees are sent home and their paychecks are postponed. In the past, although delayed, folks still get paid – for work they did not do. Only the general public is inconvenienced by the closure of the federal offices.

This time, the military will remain on duty and must trust the government to catch up on their pay in the near future. For relatively low paid enlisted folks who pretty much live from paycheck to paycheck, that is a real hardship. The politicians spend a lot of time giving lip service to our service men and women. The least they should do is make sure they are paid on time.

Of course, both parties are now filling the news with how it is not their fault but the fault of the other party. Phooey! I am sick of them both. The center of both parties have given their power to the extreme edges. Both should be strung up.

When they shut down the government, no elected official should be paid. No budget as required by law? No pay. When they to their job, their pay could start again, but no pay – ever – when they fail to do their job.

Furthermore, when military paychecks are delayed, the government is, in effect, borrowing money from them. They should use congressional salaries to fund paying interest on the delayed paychecks.

Finally, I am fed up past my eyeballs with the conduct of the U.S. Senate. Both of our senators have promised to work across the aisle for the good of Montana. They have both failed miserably. I will vote against both of them.

Only slightly less to blame are the news agencies who have always given more credence to their own opinions than to government officials.

What do you think?

Larry Wilson’s North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.