Surviving the “shutdown.”

People walk past a sign notifying visitors that the Muir Woods National Monument is closed due to a government shutdown, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Marin County, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Read these columns or listen to me on the air at KTBB and you’ll quickly understand that I’m not a fan of big government. I can state my stance on government very succinctly.

Government’s job is to defend the peace, act as impartial referee in the conduct of commerce and support the currency.

When you start getting much beyond those three fundamental functions, government starts becoming tyrannical and unsustainably expensive.

That succinct summary of the role of government explicitly recognizes that there are some things that are completely necessary that only the federal government can do. Even if it doesn’t do those things particularly well (and that’s usually the case), we tolerate it because in certain specific areas no thing or no one can take government’s place.

And though I often use the word “bureaucrat” pejoratively, let me fully stipulate that I recognize that there are many, many federal employees whose jobs are necessary, who take pride in their jobs and who do their jobs every day to the best of their abilities.

So, with all that said, let’s address the topic of the federal government “shutdown” that has Democrats and the media in such a tizzy. (Note the quotation marks around “shutdown.”)

The government is not really shut down.

Certain parts of it are temporarily not functioning and the affected employees are on momentary sabbatical. But the “essential” services of the federal government continue.

Soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are all still on duty and still getting paid. Border Patrol agents are still patrolling. Air traffic controllers are still at their positions. The Capitol Police are still protecting the Capitol. President Trump still has his Secret Service detail.

So, here’s my take on the government “shutdown.” (There are those quotation marks again.)

So, what?

I saw a story today that said that, because the government is “shut down,” we won’t get the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly jobs report. So what? The data put out by payroll processing giant ADP is much more meaningful and much more reliable.

Until Congress breaks the impasse, employees of the Indian Arts & Crafts Board – the IACB – will be on furlough. What does the IACB do? Feather headdresses, maybe? I have no clue. Do you?

Literally hundreds of federal programs, agencies, offices and bureaus that you have never heard of are “shut down” and yet life in our great land continues apace.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Government That Can’t Be Shut Down

Here’s the real deal about the “shutdown.” As noted above, “essential” services of the government are continuing. That necessarily begs the question, why does a nation that is nearly $37 trillion in debt spend money it doesn’t have — and therefore must borrow – on things that aren’t essential?

Here’s the answer.

The federal budget has devolved into a giant slush fund by which government insiders – including members of Congress – establish, protect, and grow their personal empires and pet project fiefdoms for their personal benefit.

And we – and our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond, down to the last generation – are stuck with the bill.