Impending Government Shutdown [View all]

This reminds me of the scam my father (!) ran on me when I wanted to attend law school.

I didn't have the money for tuition, so I intended to apply for a scholarship and I would have been granted one.

But my father told me not to get the scholarship, that he would pay for everything including books, etc.

As it was my father, I relied on his promise.

But it didn't happen that way.

I was working at his office and there was an inter-office scuffle between co-workers. I wanted nothing to do with it and flew under the radar -- or so I thought.

Three weeks before law school started, my father insisted that I go out to dinner with him. From past experience, this wasn't going to be good. The MO was to drop something bad on me in a public venue.

And so I went. There was thick tension in the air. And my father dropped the bomb. He claimed I was the impetus behind the office scuffle, and therefore he was forced to consider premature retirement. And premature retirement meant no funds for law school. Obviously, that meant no law school for me.

I saw through the charade. I was blameless for his office politics. He wanted to punish someone, and it was me. He expected a meltdown with my expected indignation and outrage. I wasn't going to give him what he wanted. I had enough.

I figured, OK, no law school this year; I'd apply for a scholarship for the next year.

Let's say the meal ended with FAFO. I amiably agreed that was his prerogative. He wasn't expecting that and I think that made him angrier.

The parallels between the prospective shutdown and my father are this:

1. Past federal funding to states was reliable and they set their budgets with the expected money. Not necessarily this time. I relied on my father for the tuition; he withdrew it; and it was used as a weapon against me.

2. TSF is going to make Democrats and the states the scapegoat just like my father tried to make me the reason why he wasn't going to fund my law school tuition after I didn't apply for other funding and I relied upon his promise.


Postscript: This stuff from TSF and his republican accomplices is giving me PTSD.