Tune into any news channel today and you will be truly alarmed by the pending government
shutdown. This looming disaster, we are being told, will be a national catastrophe. People will
starve, patients will die, Granny will be pushed off the cliff!
Look, for example, at tonight’s PBS’s coverage. The first twenty minutes of their nightly news
highlighted nothing other than tragedy that we are facing. We are doomed!
During this evening’s broadcast two Congressmen were interviewed., one a Democrat and one
a Republican. That was good. No partisanship.
Other outlets would probably have featured only one side. Their choice would have clearly
depended on their political orientation. If you had been objective, you would have dismissed
their agenda driven content as meaningless noise and not worth wasting your time. But that is
another story.
Back to tonight’s PBS broadcast where both parties were represented. When the Democrat
was asked by the moderator if the Republicans (and, of course, President Trump) were
responsible for the catastrophe, the answer was predictable. Of course, the authoritarian
president and his lackeys in Congress were responsible for the shutdown.
Dotto when the same question was asked of a Republican Congressman The looming disaster
was without doubt caused by the progressive left of the Democratic Party.
No surprise on either count.
Was this news? After the first few minutes of coverage, did we learn anything new? A month
from now, will the shutdown be newsworthy? Will we even remember it? Probably not. Our
attention will have been directed to some other “looming disaster.”
And you wonder why this country is divided.