The 'Stupid' Shutdown       

On this subject, we defer to Peggy Noonan, a former presidential

adviser, observer and 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary.

   Both sides, she writes, mostly agree on the following:
* We need to make the border more secure, and less cruel.
* There is a humanitarian dimension, especially for women and children.
* A nation has a right and responsibility to have a border, and rule of law.
* Governing by shutdown is ignorant, cowardly and destructive. It makes America look incompetent, unstable. It tells Americans they're pawns in a game.

   Americans, she says, think neither party has wanted to solve this problem for 20 years. Both played it for their own gain, as if they weren't invested. Republicans don't want to be called racist; Democrats want to look compassionate, with an eye on rewards at the polls. 

   Major donors on both sides don't mind illegal immigration. Some even benefit. The affluent and powerful enjoy feeling liberal, uninterested in how poor Americans view a threat. They can afford protections. 

   Noonan also notes what we don't all agree on:
* The president is unserious. He likes disorder. But this started two decades ago with cynical, game-playing failure. 
* Pelosi and Schumer are just as unserious. Brinkmanship and insults; malice and misinformation; a soap opera. They play to a rising, new base. 

     Noonan: "Who cares (what the wall looks like)? Get it done! Make a deal!"

   "Who cares how both sides spin the outcome? Just solve it! Trade better security for protection for the Dreamers." 

   "Trump's foes become like him to fight him. (When he is gone) we won't go back to normal courtesies, because they have killed the old ways." 

   "Everyone in the pool! Stop this! It's embarrassing. And it's wrong," she concludes. 

Noonan for president!

JD