Once again Republicans are allowing the recently trounced Democrats to hold the upper hand in the debate over government funding.  The Democrats have successfully defined what happens when Congress doesn’t pass a spending bill to keep funds flowing to the government as a “government shutdown.”  And the narrative they dust off every time the situation arises is that a government shutdown is possibly the most horrific action that could ever happen to our country.  This narrative has been engrained not only into the minds of low-information voters, but also, it seems, into the minds of most Republicans as well.   

When asked about the possibility of a government shutdown, Republican leaders fearfully cringe and quickly disregard any notion of allowing a shutdown to happen.

But is there a way Republicans can turn the table on Democrats and blow their government shutdown debate narrative out of the water?

Ask yourself this question.  Is there anything that compares to a government shutdown?

There sure is.  And Democrats are very familiar with it – it’s called a union strike!

And the last time I checked, Democrats are all in when it comes to supporting union bosses threatening a worker strike when the company won’t give in to the demands of the union.

In fact, there are usually elected Democrats who will stand on the podium to help rally Union workers with pep talks to hold their ground and don’t ever give up.

In reality, “We the people” are a union.  It says so in the first sentence of the Constitution of the United States:

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union…”

Being a union, United States citizens hold great leverage over the biggest corporation ever created in the history of the world – the United States government.

The American citizens' union can negotiate with the government through their elected representatives, just as union workers negotiate with a company through their elected representatives.  And if a union negotiation with a company gets a little heated or comes to an impasse, the union representatives will quickly use the leverage of a worker strike.  Not wanting to have a worker strike, more often than not, the company does everything it can to avoid one.  But if the union workers have to strike, they are supported 100% by every elected Democrat in America.

So the big question is, when it comes to the union of American citizens and the federal government that is dependent on their work, why won’t Democrats ever support their union's right to strike when the government refuses to negotiate?  And if they do decide to strike, why does every Democrat in America come out against it?

And that’s the crux of this argument against the Democrat narrative that a government shutdown is somehow a bad thing, and that a shutdown should always be met with severe condemnation and punishment.

A government shutdown is nothing more than the result of a strike by the American people, and Democrats know it!  It’s just another example of Democrat self-serving hypocrisy.

Democrats either support Unions and their right to strike or they don’t; they can’t have it both ways.

So it’s time for Republicans to turn the Democrat narrative on its head and stop calling it a government shutdown.  Start calling it what it really is – a union strike!