To all my friends out there who may be cheering the impending shutdown of the Federal government:

Please note that this shutdown will also shutter most of the District of Columbia’s city government. We have no control over our own money, so Congress’ petulant bickering will result in trash not getting collected, many social services shutting their doors, streets not being kept up or repaired, and a lot of citizens of DC being furloughed for at least a week. DC is one of the United States’ last colonies: we pay taxes but have no representation for us on Capitol Hill.

So this means that DC’s government has to pick and choose which programs are essential and hope that we have the money to do it. Sure: police, fire and EMS will still be on duty in full force. But other services that many would deem essential in a civil society will be curtailed. An example: hot meals for housebound elderly residents of the District. So senior citizens? You’re not essential. And public libraries? Nope – reading isn’t, it turns out, fundamental. Want to lodge a complaint against the DC Police Department? Sorry – the complaints department isn’t essential.

And it’s at times like these that the stupid riders that Tea Party followers insist on adding to otherwise necessary federal belt tightening measures in the budget make me want to remind these so-called “tea partiers” that the *original* Boston Tea Party existed to help people like the residents of DC, not people who don’t have a clue about what high taxes actually are and who, frankly speaking, aren’t paying nearly enough taxes given the number of Federally-funded entitlements they use each and every day.

Sincerely,

A taxpaying resident of Washington, DC, who is still treated like a colonist by Congress