When my sister and I returned home from grade school for lunch each day we knew we were under the “shush” rule. Mother was listening to her favorite soap opera on the radio — what she called “my story.” The same rule applied over dinner in the evenings as father listened to the nightly news.
Those fond recollections came back to me last week as my wife and I returned from a two-week tour in Europe. We did not pick-up a single English-language newspaper or even attempt to find a TV channel that broadcast news in English. It was a glorious getaway from Washington and our daily routines of reading the Washington Post each morning, watching network newscasts each evening, and the public affairs talk shows every Sunday.
On vacation, we were in sync with Wordsworth’s observation that, “the world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending we lay waste our powers….” Instead of frantically scrambling for news of the world we let ourselves be immersed in ancient histories, art and architectural wonders.
Now that we’re back, we are playing catch-up on what we may have missed in government, politics and world affairs. But it seems less important than it did before — a more trivial pursuit than before. We had just finished visiting sites in Europe where archeologists are still carefully uncovering layer upon layer of past civilizations and sifting through their meanings.
Volumes of history have been written about what each civilization achieved — how they rose, triumphed and eventually fell. Our brief moments on this planet will also wax and wane and leave their small imprints on those layers of ash for future generations to sift through and interpret.
I began this column just two days after our return and am still trying to fathom what I may have missed. It is easy to fall back on the wisdom of the Bible, that all is vanity and that there is nothing new under the sun.
But I refuse to capitulate to that doom-and-gloom way of thinking. I am more inclined, as a positive realist, to believe that by our actions we can make each day better for ourselves and others.
Today’s headlines about political Washington seemed relatively unchanged since our departure in late September when a government shutdown seemed imminent. Now, the government closure is here in mid-October, with little prospect of ending soon.
Each shutdown involves different causes and effects over programs and people affected. The changing political actors come and go, trying to influence final outcomes for different reasons and causes.
We know that in a representative democracy public opinion, writ large, will play a huge role in what direction our leaders take with their political futures hanging in the balance. It’s these fluctuating realities that keep observers like me enthralled by how it will all play out.
The longest government shutdown in recent history was 34 days during President Trump’s first term (December 2018 to January 2019). The main issue at stake was the president’s request for $5.7 billion in funding to build the southern border wall. The Senate was unable to muster the 60 votes needed to pass the measure. The deadlock was finally resolved when Democrats agreed to a $1.4 billion compromise.
The next-longest lapse in government funding came in the winter of 1995-96 when the Republican Congress tried to balance the budget over objections by President Bill Clinton. Again, a less severe compromise ended the shutdown.
The current funding snag is over Democrats’ insistence that full benefits be restored to Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) recipients. Republicans have indicated they will only negotiate on that demand after the continuing appropriations resolution is enacted.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who this week predicted this could be the longest shutdown ever, has refused to bring the House back into session until the “clean” continuing resolution passed by the House is passed by the Senate. He is also avoiding swearing-in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who would provide the critical 218th signature on a discharge petition he opposes calling for the full release of the files on convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The political seasons of Washington are about as regular and predictable as their meteorological counterparts, although nowadays, both are increasingly buffeted by climate change disruptions. We can always rely for reassurance on Chance the Gardener, the Peter Sellers character in “Being There”: “As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.”
Don Wolfensberger is a 28-year congressional staff veteran and former chief of staff of the House Rules Committee in 1995. He is author of “Congress and the People: Deliberative Democracy on Trial” (2000); and, “Changing Cultures in Congress: From Fair Play to Power Plays” (2018).
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