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Day: January 31, 2019
Wow. Trump sure took a beating over the shutdown. Or Pelosi did. Or nobody. Or everybody.
To hear the "mainstream media" tell it, it was Trump. But then, it would be. I'm not big on the "lamestream" and "fake news" stuff but sometimes the shoe fits.
A Jan. 26 NBC "News Alert" had the headline "ANALYSIS: Trump held government workers hostage for a month and walked away with nothing". The same day the New York Times said "Today's Headlines: Trump Signs Bill Reopening Government for 3 Weeks in Surprise Retreat From Wall". And the previous day, NBC had said "The agreement includes no new money for Trump's wall and is a massive concession on his behalf after refusing a similar funding package a month ago."
Now the obvious thing wrong with all this analysis is that the deal was only for three weeks. Trump hasn't backed down on the wall. He still says he wants it and he's willing to shut the place down again soon to get it. Which doesn't mean the Democrats lost. They're still willing to shut the place down again not to fund it.
What it does mean is that Congress, as it is wont to do, has punted a problem they couldn't solve down the road. They've been doing that on deficits since the Reagan years. This one just wasn't much of a punt. It only went a couple of yards.
The apparently less obvious thing wrong with the instant Trump lost he's a moron ha ha ha news analysis is that sneering at Trump for not being a liberal hasn't produced great results since 2016 and it's unlikely to. Especially as the electorate is with Trump on this one.
An unusually perceptive piece by the Times' David Leonhardt on the possible Democratic presidential candidacy of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz suggested that Schultz and many others delude themselves into thinking the typical American is socially liberal and economically conservative. In fact, Leonhardt argues, many wealthy Americans fit that profile but for the average Joe or Jane the reverse is true.
Americans like big social programs, higher taxes on the rich, higher minimum wages and government job programs. But "More than half of Americans say they pray daily. About 53 percent say abortion should be legal either 'only in a few circumstances' or never. Almost 70 percent say illegal immigration is a 'very big' or 'moderately big' problem." So the issue of the wall and illegal immigration won't go away.
Nor will it be solved. Like the deficit, the state of America's military, and any number of other things the politicians like to yell about, it will fester because of the ill will this episode has exacerbated. Which is why the obvious loser here is in fact everybody.
Voters are rightly disgusted with political "leaders" who squabble like tired children in a sand box. As NBC conceded on Jan. 27, "In the wake of the government shutdown, 63 percent of Americans say the nation is headed in the wrong direction while nearly 70 percent have negative opinions about the state of the union. A majority of respondents blame President Trump for the historic government shutdown but his overall approval rating remains at 43 percent in the poll, unchanged since December."
The important part isn't that people "blamed" Trump or at least thought him responsible. It's the last bit: that a majority thinking he was responsible didn't hurt his popularity, such as it is.
Obviously 43% isn't a great number though Canada's Justin Trudeau would love to have it now as he's hovering around 35%. But, like a great many things Trump has done that offended his opponents, his stance on the shutdown didn't offend his base. And it won't no matter how many features the New York Times runs on government workers living in poverty because of that awful orange troll in the White House. Nor, of course, will the Democrats be repudiated by their base for having behaved badly even if the American Spectator says they will.
The fact is that most Americans think their politicians are nasty incompetent stinkers. And looking at Nancy Pelosi as well as Trump, and a great many others, you could be persuaded. But when I say everybody lost I don't just mean all politicians, though they did. Nor do I just mean everyone in government, those who went without wages and those who simply saw their profession brought into even deeper disrepute than it already was.
The damage was far broader. All Americans lost because their government doesn't just look like a bunch of childish idiots bickering over trivia and procedure while major problems go unaddressed. It is one. And episodes like this shutdown make them hate one another even more (by Jan. 27 NBC noted that "Congressional leaders point fingers after shutdown deal"), which reinforces their tendency to bicker mindlessly over trivia while real problems worsen, in a downward spiral. And when Americans lose, we all lose.
The United States has been a bulwark of our open world since the 19th century; its prosperity, its willingness to trade fairly freely except, disastrously, in the 1930s, and of course its military might have made us all much safer and richer than we would otherwise have been. And its culture may produce such things as pro wrestling and processed cheese but its icons from John Wayne to Elvis to Disneyworld and, OK, Leonardo DiCaprio have made people happier. It's not OK if it falls to bits. Which its political system seems to be doing.
So here's the real news. The problems that led to the shutdown aren't fixed. There's no guarantee that it won't happen again. And Trump isn't going to take the big smackdown over the border wall whether or not there's another government semi-closure.
Who lost in the shutdown? Everybody. And it's a gift that just keeps on taking.
Photo Credit: CNN
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
Where there's no sunlight scummy behaviour grows.
The latest example to prove this truism is Ryerson student union's $250,000 credit card bill for a spending spree on such necessities as $2,280.89 for VIP treatment at a nightclub, $2,507.18 to hang at the Cineplex Rec Room, $1,375.21 for supplies at Nick's Sport Shop and $696.90 for an Airbnb stay.
Somehow after Ryerson's student paper The Eyeopener first broke the news the student President has kept the privilege of remaining in power thus far. It appears firing him is more difficult than it should be, the organization lacking significant accountability it seems. (Student unions are not considered entities under the university, so they are not subject to freedom of information requests.)
But Ontario university students are subjected to having to pay a tithe to their student unions that then use that money to enrich themselves and host events (i.e. parties). In the case of Ryerson, a search for just how much the student union fleeces students isn't all that transparent, but according to a CBC report on the latest scandal it collects enough for a "multi-million dollar budget [that] includes spending on staff, events and supplies."
Leave it to teetotaller and party pooper Premier Doug Ford to disrupt the good time these student politicians and bureaucrats are having at the expense of their fellow students they are supposedly advocating on behalf. Along with scrapping the "free" tuition for some, Ford's government has announced that non-essential student fees to organizations like student unions will be changed from mandatory to voluntary. The uproar was immediate and completely overblown, and right on cue came the Ryerson expense scandal to prove it. But as Robyn Urback pointed out in the National Post back in 2015, when University of Toronto's student union faced its own similar scandal, these scandals are rife because there is next to no accountability.
Along with tuition freeloaders, these student grifters descended on Queen's Park recently to decry their cash cow being put to pasture. Compared to other protests, the number of people that turned out was not that compelling,. The majority of students, if they have common sense, would approve of a reduction in their tuition and student fees. Only a minority of post-secondary students are set to lose financially on Ford's changes, and it shows.
The only legitimate criticism of the new plan to allow students to opt-out of ancillary fees is that student publications will also face a loss in revenue, and it was a student paper after all that did the essential work of exposing the charlatans at Ryerson. But from my experience working at a student publication the majority of their budgets seem to be spent on excessive frills just like the student unions; they'll survive, and perhaps refocus the bulk of remaining funds on the actual development of their product.
The real lesson in all of this though, is that more accountability and scrutiny is needed for many of Canada's governing bodies.
Just look at the expense scandal roiling in BC, former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson's continued bilking of taxpayers, or heir-apparent to the Alberta premiership Jason Kenney's sketchy housing allowance claims.
Does anyone really think the Board of Internal Economy in Ottawa, run by self-governing politicians, is really doing any better job at keeping their colleague's accountable for shoddy expense claims?
Until we get real, transparent processes, this type of grotesque grifting off the backs of student bodies and the citizenry will continue to abound and bubble up into public scandal from time to time. The Canadian swamp is deep and murky.
Written by Graeme C. Gorodn
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
