What My Computer and Washington Have in Common
I had plenty of topics to
write about this week. For one thing, I
could have written about that horrendous new abortion law in New York State
and the desire of other states, such as New Mexico ,
Rhode Island , and Virginia to pass similar legislation. I also could have written about the necessity
for a brand new “Fire Pelosi” Bus Tour or the hysteria surrounding the
potential that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will run for President as a
“centrist independent.” I still have
time to write about all of those topics.
After the week that I have had, I felt compelled to write about
something else.
Two days after
graduating from high school, I received a laptop computer as a gift. My parents made the calculation that it would
come in handy as they went off to college.
Their calculation proved correct.
Unfortunately, I did not get to spend that much time with my new
computer right away; I had to head off to college orientation. My father, never one to put himself first,
decided to waste all of Father’s Day trying to figure out how the machine
worked.
I got back from
orientation, where I quickly became acquainted with my computer ahead of
college, which began two and a half months later. The computer proved itself a valuable asset;
I used it for notetaking in non-math classes as well as to complete all my
non-math homework, such as writing assignments.
I figured that as long as I had my laptop, I would never ever need to
set foot in one of the computer labs. As
I would come to find out, modern technology did not allow me to send work from
my computer at school to my printer at home 50 miles away. So I did end up using the computer labs for
printing.
Eventually, the
computer started to have problems. I
never got a wireless mouse for my computer, meaning that I have to use the
built-in mouse which consists of a large rectangle beneath the keyboard
designed to serve as a “roller,” with two rectangles below intended to “left”
and “right” click. After about a year of
use, the left click button effectively fell off, causing me to tape it back
on.
Before long, the
keyboard started acting up; with certain keys typing multiple letters or
symbols. Rather than buy a new computer,
I decided to buy an attachable keyboard that I would plug into one of the holes
on the side of the computer. I could
still use some of the keyboard if I could not get to the attachable keyboard
for some reason or just did not feel like putting it out. In less than a year’s time, the attachable keyboard
broke; causing me to buy a new, wireless keyboard that did not have a
cord. Instead, this keyboard had a flash
drive that went with it that got plugged into one of the holes on the side of
the computer.
Speaking of holes on
the side of the computer, one day, while riding the bus home from college, the
bus took a very sharp turn that caused my backpack, with the computer in it, to
fall on the floor. This led to one of
the holes on the side of the computer designed to absorb flash drives breaking,
meaning that I could no longer have a flash drive and my keyboard plugged in at
the same time. Still, I decided not to
get a new computer.
As time went on and I
got closer and closer to graduating from college, the computer ended up needing
a new battery and a new charger. Basically, only the monitor and the power
button have survived. One day, my
computer’s demise looked imminent enough to justify me putting everything on
the computer on a flash drive and preparing for it not to start up again. Somehow, the computer managed to roar back to
life. Although the invisible cooling fan began making an unprecedented amount of
noise at some point last year, the machine ended up working satisfactorily; for
the most part.
Just this past week, I
tried starting the computer and it would not start. My father figured out how to allow me to log
in under “safe mode,” which gave me the opportunity to transfer all of my files
onto a flash drive and prepared to get a new computer. My father suggested that I do a system
restore, which ended up restoring internet access and allowed me to actually
log into the computer. Unfortunately,
the next time I shut it down, the computer began updating; I came to the
conclusion that the “updates” that the computer always insists on performing
have led to its less-than-stellar performance and failure to start up. Fortunately, I figured out how to do a
“system restore” on my own, which has enabled me to keep using the
computer. So I have spent the past week
putting the computer to sleep rather than shutting it down at night because I
do not have any other option besides “update and shut down” or “update and
restart,” both of which would cause the computer to start acting up again.
The last straw came
when I had a story completed and ready to publish. Before actually publishing the story, I
decided to go get the laundry out of the dryer and go to the bathroom so I
closed the computer; which normally prompts it to go to sleep. It did not go to sleep, meaning that I had to
remove the battery and try to restart it again; which basically meant that it
updated. I had lost all of my
work and my access to Google chrome.
Fortunately, I typically end up writing a good portion of the story in
the proposal e-mails to my editors; therefore, I had not lost the framework of
what I had planned on writing about. In
addition, I still had the video uploaded on MRCTV, which I always accompany
with a short summary.
The next day, I still
could not recover Google chrome so I ended up having to do all of my work for
Newsbusters on internet explorer, which takes a lot longer. It turns out that all I had to do to recover
Google chrome was download it again re-downloading Google chrome and it
re-appeared on my computer as if it had never disappeared in the first
place.
Does my computer sound
like something else? The situation with
my computer, it breaking, or at the very least not working up to par for a long
time, and me simply putting Band-Aids on it without actually solving the
problem at hand; actually reminds me a lot of Washington. For years, Washington has failed to serve the American
people effectively. Look no further than
the budget process. Instead of passing
budgets to last the entire year, Congress ends up passing “continuing resolutions”
that fund the government for a short period of time, allowing the elected
representatives to avoid taking hard votes. Even after American voters elected the
most effective anti-Virus software President of the United
States , it appears as if Washington has not gotten the message that
it, like my computer, has stopped working like it should. Washington
continues to spend taxpayer money as if it grows on trees but rather than spend
it on programs that will actually help the American people, it spends it on border
security and foreign aid for other countries as well as useless “experiments”
such as investigating obese lesbians and putting mountain lions on treadmills.
Republicans have
finally smartened up when it comes to judicial appointments. Had Mitch McConnell not invoked the “nuclear
option,” the Democrats would have blocked every single one of President Trump’s
judicial nominees; just like they did during the George W. Bush administration. The filibuster rule, which has effectively
caused the legislative process in Washington
to screech to a halt, directly goes against Alexander Hamilton’s wishes; as
explained in Federalist 22.
The events of this past
week have pushed me closer than ever before to purchasing a new computer. But will Washington develop the same sense of
urgency? Let’s hope so. After all, the problems with my computer
serve as a minor to moderate inconvenience to me. The problems in Washington that the geniuses on Capitol Hill
fail to solve serve as a major inconvenience to the entire country; out of
control national debt and a badly broken immigration system continue to plague
the country as the folks in the Swamp continue to get richer.
While I can easily fix
many of my problems by buying a new computer, those looking to fix Washington cannot do so
by starting from scratch. The
Constitution provides a framework for how American government must work so all
those who have convinced themselves that abolishing the Senate will solve the
problem will have to look elsewhere for solutions. So, what would a “system restore” in Washington look like?
For one thing, it would restore a balanced budget. For most of American history,
Congress has prioritized balancing the budget; in other words, making sure that
government spending does not exceed the amount of revenue collected by the
government. For the most part, the only
time Congress failed to balance the budget overlapped with major wars, such as
the period following the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil
War. Balanced budgets effectively became
a thing of the past following the massive expansion of the welfare state that
began in the 1930s. Since 1970, only in
the latter years of the Clinton
administration did Congress balance the budget.
Love or hate John Kasich, who has spent the past handful of years
attempting to suck up to the mainstream media as an anti-Trump virtue signaler,
he certainly did a good job as Chairman of the House Budget Committee; where he
engineered the only balanced budgets during my lifetime. Term limits would also serve as an important
prospect of the “system restore” in Washington . Politicians in Washington effectively care about nothing
else besides their re-election. They
don’t care if the country gets destroyed in the process. Term limits would take the pressure of running
for re-election off and prevent lawmakers from getting too comfortable inside the
beltway; which often times leads to them ignoring their constituents’ wishes in
favor of their donors’. Not surprisingly, these interests do not often overlap.
It certainly does not help that Congressional leadership expects their members
to raise a certain amount of money, as Congressman Ken Buck (R-CO) explained.
Over the past few days, my computer has rebounded but it still seems inevitable that I will have to buckle down and pick out a new one in the very near future. Hopefully, Washington, which remains broken, will start working again soon. Like it or not, as long as Nancy Pelosi remains Speaker of the House, the “system restore” that Washington desperately needs will never come to fruition. Remember that as the 2020 election continues to get closer.
Over the past few days, my computer has rebounded but it still seems inevitable that I will have to buckle down and pick out a new one in the very near future. Hopefully, Washington, which remains broken, will start working again soon. Like it or not, as long as Nancy Pelosi remains Speaker of the House, the “system restore” that Washington desperately needs will never come to fruition. Remember that as the 2020 election continues to get closer.
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