When the alarm clock rang for the third time, I stared at my phone bank balance and sighed – this month’s mortgage repayment date is approaching, but as a technician for the federal air traffic control system, my payslip has been “suspended” for the tenth day. The milk on the supermarket shelves has increased in price again, and the cashier said that the logistics truck was delayed for three days due to insufficient manpower at the border customs.
Last week, I took my child on an autumn outing to a national park. The sign at the entrance read ‘Closed due to government shutdown’, and the child cried all the way holding a drawn wildlife handbook. Even worse, my wife’s medical insurance subsidy application was stuck at the social security bureau, and the phone was always busy. On TV, lawmakers from both parties are still blaming each other, and I only have two bags of frozen dumplings left in my fridge.
Government shutdown? For politicians, it’s a bargaining chip; for us, it’s an unpaid bill, a doctor we can’t see, and an extinguished expectation in the eyes of children. I hope they remember that we are not ‘political pawns’, but ordinary people waiting for payday to buy grocers.
