Until recently, you just didn't hear the word "sequester" used in conversation very much. I like the word. It's not my favorite little used word. That would be "bifurcate." When did you last hear the word bifurcate used in normal conversation? Right? Like never! Why is that? It's a great word. Think about how many times you've wanted to convey the concept of splitting something into two pieces, not equal pieces necessarily, just two pieces. That's bifurcate. Let's all try to use bifurcate in conversation from now on, until you or someone to whom you're speaking decides that the word just pisses you or them off.
"Sequester" is less satisfying to say, and probably used less frequently. That is until recently. My guess is that a large percentage of the people who are using the word don't really know what it means. As kids we never played "sequester and seek," right, so it's not a familiar word. Unfamiliar that is until it became linked to a) an artificially created financial deadline and b)...well I can't remember what b was going to be, so forget it. I did.
This sequester is about gutting every part of the Federal government regardless of merit or consequence. If that doesn't sound like a good way to run a country, it isn't, but the political climate in the United States is mostly about how not to govern. With all the politicos and pundits running around telling us that the sky is falling, you'd think someone would try to do something about it. If you think that, you're wrong. The Congress took is usual Presidents' Week break to go home, wrangle contributors, bloviate (another one of those words), do photo ops, smile at Presidents' Day parades and try to remember where their residences of record are actually located. President Obama returned from golf with Tiger Woods last Tuesday to begin working on this, but there was no one to talk to until this weekend when members of Congress straggled back into town. And even then no one wanted to talk, they just wanted to strut upon the stage. The Republicans have opted to spend their time trying to blame the President for the sequester even though a majority of them voted for the sequester and it was proposed because Speaker Boehner could not get his caucus to agree to the grand bargain to which he and President Obama had agreed. They have accused the President of failing to present an alternative to the draconian and, yes, I'll say it, stupid sequester. I guess they're ignoring the White House web site.
Anyhow, you have to wonder why no one is doing anything. I believe the answer is that they don't want to. Polls show that 71% of voters believe that the solution should include revenue increases from closing loopholes and cutting subsidies to industries and companies that don't need them as well as cuts to Federal programs. Thus the Democrats are ready to let the Republicans twist slowly in the the wind. The Republicans have been trying to slash spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, meals on wheels for the elderly, the National Endowment for the Arts, et al forever, and the sequester gets them there without having actually to do something that might anger constituents, so they are happy to let the Democrats get pummeled by their constituents, who overwhelmingly support those programs, because they didn't protect them. There is another component to this thing and that is that the government won't actually run out of money until March 27, so the sh*t won't hit the fan until then. Now every Federal agency, company and state government that will be effected has already started to plan to wind down. But Congress figures it has until March 27th, so what the heck.
Personally, if the government is going to choose between children, seniors, cops and teachers and subsidies for BP, ExxonMobil, Monsanto, Cargill and their ilk (another of those words), I'm going to have to side with the kids, seniors (of which I am now one), cops and teachers. The reality is that our fiscal health can't be protected with cuts only, revenues are needed too. I guess I should point out here that Medicare, a favorite target, can be fixed easily, but it will take political will and our politicians don't have that.
