Today’s post comes from Congressman Loomis Beechly of Minnesota’s 9th district, representing all the water surface area in the state.
Greetings Constituents,
I’m delighted to be able to report that we in Congress are busy doing the work you sent us here to do – spirited fighting among ourselves. Obviously we (and you) are in a state of deep disagreement over which of our fears is most compelling.
We’ve heard your musings about the failings of government and by having two parties refuse to budge in a legislative game of chicken, we’ve made them come true! Now only one thing is certain: fear-based, blame-the-enemy, take-no-prisoners legislating is going to lead us to a federal government shutdown this week. That, and we have the most-hyphenated government in the world.
You’re welcome!
I’d like to apologize to all chickens, by the way. It’s unfortunate that their name is attached to this kind of destructive strategy. I’ve known chickens and worked with chickens and have been served chickens in the past, and my fellow Representatives are no chickens! Chickens can be knuckleheads but I’ve never seen them be quite as stubborn as some Members of Congress. In fact, I’m fairly sure if we sent actual chickens to Washington, we would not be having a Game of Chicken over shutting down the government.
But I know you are wondering what a government shutdown would mean for my office and our relationship. Let me assure you that even when scores of federal workers are furloughed, I will continue to work as hard for you as I always have and will be as accessible to you as ever.
And by that I mean this – leave a message on my machine and someone will get back to you.
I mean it.
Your Faithful Representative,
Loomis Beechly
Have you ever been involved in a game of chicken? Who blinked first?
Trail Baboon 
I think the baboons are in a game of chicken to see who posts first.
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Perhaps, Renee, it is that many Baboons – myself included – are conflict averse and so avoid games of chicken as foolish and a waste of breath.
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Good morning. I agree with Beechly on this one. People who play chicken are doing something a chicken wouldn’t do. Would I do something like that? I have engaged in a contest to see who would be the first one to blink. I am not talking about threatening a shutdown. What I engaged in was only a game played for fun where no one gets hurt.
I think the game of seeing who will blink first that I am talking about is not the same as the one Beechly has in mind. Obama probably would be good at staring someone down in a game of who will blink first. The current game of chicken seems to be more like some really dumb kids playing chicken with cars which you would think would be something that government leaders wouldn’t do.
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By the way, I usually loose at games of who will blink first that are played for fun.
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I am so sorry, but I can’t possibly not post this, from Manly Guys Doing Manly Things:
http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/never-give-up-never-surrender
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Ah, this reminds me of a classic…… if you haven’t seen this movie, I recommend it.
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wonderfup cg
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I do. I’m the one to ‘take one for the team’ or to generally get the job done. Again, I seem to suffer from ‘TNS.’ Terminal Niceguy Syndrome.
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I can generally win a stare-down contest with the dog, but that’s about it. I have way to active an imagination to get through a chicken contest without seeing all the gruesome consequences in my mind’s eye!
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Real chickens are easy; they’ll cave at the first sign of resistance.
Well, except maybe a rooster or two.
I’ve had a peregrine falcon scaring the chickens and ducks the last couple days. See? All he/she has to do is fly over and everyone scatters. It’s kinda cool they can see and tell a predator is up there.
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Do you think they are seeing the falcon? Or feeling the wind of the falcon? I know my dogs smell things way before seeing or hearing them.
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Saturday I was washing out the truck box and the ducks were playing in the water and suddenly the ducks all scattered.
A second later the falcon flew overhead– up maybe 30′? Flew over and landed in a tree.
Saw it again this morning.
I have some young (4 month old chickens) that it’s probably scoping out more than the big fat ducks…
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Funny how it’s always about perspective. I have never once thought about what the ground prey is thinking when I see a big pretty bird. Yesterday when we got close to Eau Claire, we saw a big beautiful bald eagle sailing along. I suppose that mice and smaller prey were scurrying to hiding places while I was just admiring it!
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I am somewhat afraid of chickens, so I think that I would cave at the first sign of chicken resistance. We have Swainson’s Hawks in our neighborhood. They and the turkey vultures and Finian, the cat across the street, keep the neighborhood tidy.
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chickens and people too
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i have played chicken in business through out my career. sometimes ending up well sometimes badly. sometimes working out. thats why they call it chicken. the problem in real life is if you play chicken you cant go back and pretend everything is hunky dorey afterwards. you just got in someones face and forced an issue. in politics they seem to think sticking it in your ear is part of the equation. too bad. they are not even remotely good role models any more. obama has tried to play nice and to have discussions and where has it gotten him? i think the correct answer is to let them close down the government and let the people of the us decide if they like that or not. a much better solution than obamas original plan of offering to compromise then they said no and he offerd to split the difference again and they said no and then by the time they set up the final deal it was already so tilted in the other guys direction it wasnt a compromise any more it was a slaughter and a wind for one side.
i like the idea of standing your ground when the alternative is to let the middle gorund shift too far the other way.
the best way to deal with it is not to deal with it. thats not chicken thats good stratagy
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I haven’t thought about this for a while. There was a famous game of chicken conducted at night on the gravel roads around Ames when I was a kid. The game was played with three motorcycles. Two would run side by side, while the third would test his nerve about driving the other way, trying to drive between the lights of the oncoming two machines. We wouldn’t know this except for the fact that one young man did not chicken out even though the two oncoming lights were close together. He aimed right between them, discovering too late that they were the headlights of an oncoming car. I suppose that made him the winner of the chicken game, which sums up my opinion of such games.
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He didn’t survive?
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in a new form as a hood ornament
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In a game of chicken a creative solution might be needed. The best solution, if possible, is a compromise. There may be no way to reach a compromise. Also refusing to play might not work. Is there anyone who would be good at finding a creative solution? Not George Mitchell. Is Kofi Annan available?
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You can’t compromise with the law of the land deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court. The time for actually compromising is long since gone about 3 years ago.
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Right, sometimes you can’t or shouldn’t compromise. The current situation in Washington is really more like a bad joke. Maybe Colbert or John Steward should be brought in to come up with a dark humor solution.
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I can’t remember a time that I’ve played chicken, though there must have been something like that in the neighborhood games of my childhood. I can think of a time when I stood my ground in a confrontation with a family member, and I “won” that, not that the outcome was pretty. Will do some more thinking…
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I’ve played that game where you stare at another person to see who blinks first. I always blink first, but as Steve pointed out, it’s not always bad to “chicken out.”
In real life, I’m not very good at standing my ground in a confrontation, unless it was with my kids when they were young, but I’m trying to get better at it. Some people are hard to confront – they just slither away – it’s sort of like trying to nail jello to a tree.
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Don’t feel badly about this. I’ve learned that people who are really pissed at you only escalate if you remain calm and rational.
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I feel as though yahoos in Washington and at Orchestralless Hall are playing chicken. Can’t decide who is more ridiculous and frustrating!
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Orchestraless Hall – I hadn’t heard that one before Lisa. Nice! I suppose if the season is cancelled they could change the name to Board of Directors Hall. I wonder what kind of admiring crowd that would draw!
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I’d like to say I coined the term but have to confess that I got it from a blog or FB posting about the negotiations.
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It’s fine to confess, but don’t feel bad. Pete Seeger said “Plagiarism is basic to all culture.” But knowing Pete, somebody else probably said it first.
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Huge snort!
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Nice one.
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