Shut Down! Do You Care?

        The government is "shut down."

        Media call this a "crisis."

        A "crisis (with) no deal in sight," says Fox News.

        Reuters says it's a "key risk to US stability."

        But when I look around, I see business as usual -- families raise children, workers work, people play music ...

        The media act like government is the most important part of life. It isn't. Fortunately, most of life, and the best of life, happens outside government.

        Yes, we need government. Limited government. Enough to keep us safe.

        But most of life doesn't depend on what goes through D.C.

        Most of life thrives without government, often, despite government.

        During shutdowns, government tells "nonessential" workers not to come to work. But if they're nonessential, why do we employ them?
        The shutdown is certainly a problem for the 1.4 million federal employees currently working without pay or furloughed. But they will likely get paid once government's back in business. That's what happened before.

        The media claim flights are delayed because of Air Traffic Control staffing shortages. CNN writes, "Delays spread to major airports across the country, as the government shutdown impacts travelers."

        But many of these delays happen because government runs Air Traffic Control, and government management isn't good. 

        In other places (airports in Canada, the U.K., Germany, Australia), Air Traffic Control is privately run. A Government Accountability Office report found that private systems lead to fewer delays.

        Even security screenings work better when they're private. At San Francisco's airport, security lines move faster, and passengers told me, "The screeners are nicer!"

        They're nicer and faster because in San Francisco (also Kansas City and some smaller airports), private companies handle security. The TSA even acknowledges that private screeners are better at finding contraband.

        So why does government do these things?

        It shouldn't.

        Private operators are better because they must compete. Competition makes everybody sharper. Succeed, or you get fired.

        But government never fires itself. It's why its incompetent government workers stay incompetent.

        It's also why the Pentagon flunks audits and uses outdated computers.

        Shutdowns are supposed to show how vital government is. Instead, they show the opposite.

        Now, some farmers complain that they're not getting government support checks. But why should farmers get taxpayer funding in the first place?
        Politicians said it was needed to "save family farms," but it doesn't. It mostly subsidizes big agribusiness.

        Some claim America needs government aid to "guarantee the food supply." But we don't. Fruit and vegetable growers get nothing from Washington. There's no shortage of tomatoes, peaches or green beans ...

        We should take a chainsaw to much of government.

        Consider government inspections of foods. We're told to be glad USDA inspectors are considered "essential" and will stay on the job to keep us safe.

        But meat is safe not because of bureaucratically mandated inspections but mostly because of competition.

        Food sellers have a reputation to uphold. If their food poisons us, people won't buy from them.

        As a result, today's food producers take more safety measures than government requires. One told me they employ a thousand more safety inspectors than the government demands.

        Stories like that rarely get coverage.

        Politicians, gathered in D.C., are easy to report on. Journalists lazily obsess about them because they're easy to interview. It's impossible to cover millions of individuals pursuing our own interests.

        But it's we who make America work. Not bureaucrats bickering in D.C.

        Media pundits will continue to act as if shutdowns are a crisis, but they're not.

        We've "survived" shutdowns before, and we'll "survive" this one.

        Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media."

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