WASHINGTON, D.C. -

It must be fall. The air is crisp, football is underway, and here in Ohio the leaves are beginning to changes colors. Oh, and of course, our government is on the verge of a total shutdown.

On Friday, while I was in Washington, D.C. for a few meetings, the House of Representatives voted on a resolution to continue to fund the federal government through mid-December, and to defund the new federal healthcare law.

The Senate is expected to approve the resolution, but strip out provisions eliminating Obamacare. The resolution will then be kicked back to the House, where an epic battle is looming between Republicans and Democrats. If a compromise isn’t reached by Sept. 30, the government could shut down.

Some are comparing this latest threatened shut down to what happened in 1995, when Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton faced off over the budget. The big difference between then and now is that in 1995 many appropriations bills, such as those paying our military and essential government personnel, had already passed. Now, 18 years later, we have no such safety net.

These manufactured government crises are becoming as predictable as the changing of the seasons. In fact, there have been four threatened shutdowns since 2010. At some point in the last 10 years or so, compromise was categorized as a dirty word in Washington, D.C. Today, our elected officials think nothing of risking the health and safety (not to mention paychecks) of thousands of Americans just to advance their own agendas.

And why should they? Most of them are elected from districts so gerrymandered they resemble a Rorschach inkblot more than a community.

Their seats are designed to be safe, and incentivize legislators to move only to the right or left, never the center. Better to shut down the government, goes the thinking, than to risk a strong primary challenge in the next election.

Congress’ complete inability to work with one another leaves small business owners like us high and dry.  Dealers need to be confident in the stability of our country and economy in order to expand inventory, hire employees, and provide service to our customers. Thanks to our government’s paralyzing fear of compromise, all we have is uncertainty.

If this bothers you — and it SHOULD — then don’t back away from involvement in Washington, plunge in.

Make sure your voice is being heard. Remind our elected officials that the rational majority of Americans don’t give a hoot about scoring political points. Remind them that we are much more concerned with growing our businesses, educating our children, and supporting our troops.

In this respect, dealers are lucky. Through AIADA, we already have the infrastructure in place to get involved. We have the resources we need to make our voices heard, and professional support to help us navigate the ins and outs of Capitol Hill.

International nameplate dealers frustrated with the same old song and dance from Congress can join our Legislative Action Network TODAY and become a force for sane governance in Washington, D.C.

Jenell Ross is the AIADA Chairwoman and one of Auto Remarketing's Women in Remarketing class of 2013. To see the original AIADA blog post and more, click here.
 

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