Shut it down!

Wow. It happened. They really did it. First day of government shutdown. As if things weren’t bad enough already, now this. I’ve been watching this drama unfold over the past few weeks and I have to admit I was a little surprised it came to this. Usually when the Repubs play chicken like this, they blink before going over the cliff, but I guess this time they’re ready to bring us all down in order to keep that black man from winning.

I’ll admit, I wouldn’t mind Obamacare getting delayed for at least one more year. I’m not quite ready to add mandatory medical insurance to the long list of bills I already have. For one, I would be needing a job to pay for said bill.

I’ve been watching the news this morning and I keep hearing the Repubs complaining that the Dems won’t negotiate and I don’t know where that’s coming from because from what I hear, the Dems are willing to negotiate, but since they won’t budge on what the Repubs want, that translates into ‘unwilling to negotiate’.

I’m hearing a lot of outrage over the salaries of congress and the president as well and I agree. Although, wasn’t a law passed last year that stated that if no budget is passed, congress goes without pay? I think they all shouldn’t get paid in the first place. Back in the old days, these jobs didn’t even have salaries. Some were non-paying and others were per diem. These days especially considering many, if not all, congressmen and senators have day jobs that rake in millions of dollars annually. They don’t need this money, yet take it and now that we’ve shut down, are they going to feel the pinch? No. They have plenty of money. They can afford to miss a few paychecks.

I’m more outraged by how this whole debacle isn’t even about what they say it is. It’s the Tea Party flexing their muscles and Boehner allowing a fringe group within his party to hold the entire country hostage despite the fact the president was re-elected on his platform which was predominately about Obamacare. The people wanted it. They voted for it, but these knuckle draggers are acting like little babies, kicking and screaming and basically flushing our economy down the toilet based on their biased and ignorant beliefs. It’s hard for me to argue this whole thing because as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t mind a delay on the healthcare bill, at least for a little while, but I do know that it’s already been helping people and I’m sure it will help millions more. I only pray this situation will resolve quickly because my only hope for any financial aid right now lies in the hands of the government, I’m afraid to say, and as long as they’re closed, so am I.