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.