Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Catch 22 in Washington



What is one supposed to expect from Washington nowadays other than a Kafkaesque response to communication?  Of the several emails I recently sent concerning the government shutdown and the debt crisis, my favorite exchange was with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio's office. Here's mine which I tried to keep brief and to the point:

To use the shutdown of the government and, far worse, the possible default on our debt as a hostage for repealing a law that has already been passed, adjudicated, is the worst kind of governing I can imagine and I blame this on the Republican Party, particularly the fringe elements, a Party I used to admire. This kind of brinksmanship reminds me of the Cuban Missile crisis, but being played out with the full faith and credit of our country as the A bomb (I lived in NYC then and remember the anxiety clearly).  Why not deal with the weaknesses of the Affordable Care Act (which is the proper name, not Obamacare) when they become evident during its implication? It makes me furious at my representatives and apprehensive for this country

One minute later, I got the following response:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me, please be advised due to the government shutdown, my office is currently closed. My office will respond to your concerns or resume work on your case as soon as the office reopens. In the interim, if you would like to leave a comment for me, you may still do so at 1-866-630-7106 (within Florida) or 202-224-3041.

Sincerely,
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio

Thus, I first called the Florida number, and it was busy.  So I called the Washington number and got one of those happy, professional recordings, one option was to leave a message concerning any legislative matters.  So, that is the option I chose.

Then, even a more friendly voice responded,  I'm sorry, that mailbox is full.  Goodbye.
The end. 


PS When I wrote this entry, I had no idea that practically concurrently President Obama was calling the failure to raise the debt ceiling an economic "nuclear bomb."  Amen to that.