Will Keller
Sugar Beet Staff Reporter
What began in 2018 on December 22 has carried on into 2019 and shows no sign of slowing down. The federal government shutdown has been carrying on for more than three weeks. The gridlock in Washington has left hundreds of thousand of government employees in a financial rut, as well as the many parks, museums, agencies and Native American reservations funded by it.
Obviously, people who belong to various parts of the political spectrum have their fingers pointed to who they believe is at fault. Students at Garden City High School are no different.
“I think the Democrat Party is completely at fault,” Claire Lidstrom, a yellow academy junior said. “If they would just agree to funding the wall we would not have this problem. The wall will do more good than bad. I can totally see the flip side however of the Republican Party doing the exact same if they did not get their way. Maybe this shutdown will help politicians see its better to agree than agree to disagree. I feel the worst for the government employees because they get the burned end of the stick.”
Recent GCHS alumni Kaden Leiker has a similar opinion.
“The Democrats are absolutely at fault for the shutdown,” Leiker said. “No matter what President Trump does they shut it down because they have it in their minds he is a horrible person. These left politicians are simply trying to please their voters to stay in office. I think if Obama had proposed the same thing, they would have been fine with it. It is the classic politics where no one wants to work together and achieve anything.”
Katie Chandler, a senior in the red academy, has a different opinion.
“I am in no way claiming I know everything about the government shut down. But in my opinion it’s a play by elected officials on both sides that ends up hurting working class individuals,” Chandler said. “I do blame Trump for the shutdown simply because he was dumb enough to tweet that if the government ever shut down, it would be because he didn’t get funding for his wall. The shutdown is really depressing because it actually does not even save that much money. National Parks are overran with trash, TSA and FDA are cutting the number of inspections they do and the Coast Guard is being forced to work without pay. If the Trump Administration is really focused on American safety, then how is this helping?”
Will Keller is a senior in the trade academy. Contact him at kellerw@student.gckschools.com
Garden City High School 