The [Republican] Government Shutdown

[A Black Falcon]

I won't rewrite my post about how stupid the Republicans are acting and how the extremists who run the party now are anti-democratic, but yeah, those things are true. It really is fantastic that the Democrats are not caving this time, and as time progresses, the Republicans have edged closer and closer to surrender. Now they're talking about what they want, but they've backed down from "we must kill health care reform"; now they're just going back to bad old Republican ideas about shrinking government, cutting taxes, etc. Their demands are still quite unreasonable, though, and Obama and Harry Reid have no reason to give in now. And indeed, they aren't. The Republicans will need to give up a lot more of what they want before they get anywhere, for sure. And that's good -- we cannot allow them to destroy the government, or the government's ability to function, just because of their ideological crusade against the concept of governance (unless it's THEIR medicare/social security in question, that they want!).

Also, it's good that some of the Senate Republicans, who are not nearly as affected by the gerrymandering problem (once again, gerrymandering leads to house districts being more polarized because most members have no threat from the other party -- it's a very, very serious problem in our government right now), aren't quite as crazy as the House, or Ted Cruz, are. They're still wrong, but not completely out of their minds extreme...

[Dark Jaguar]

Well it sure is nice to be optimistic, but the reality is that, as the Daily Show put it, they have taken a hostage that they don't value at all. Further, they have stated very clearly that they actually WANT to see government all but completely dismantled. That is their platform. They don't mind this shut down, because they think it is good. You can't negotiate with that, because if you give them what they want, you legitimatize this tactic, and further, they have NO desire to "let the hostage go free unharmed". They'll get what they want, then KEEP the government shut down.

[A Black Falcon]

Well, you're absolutely right that a lot of Republicans think that way. The question is though, do ALL of them really want to stick to that plan? I think there are some moderate Republicans who'd rather this end sometime...

[A Black Falcon]

Well, the Republicans finally caved! It took until the evening of the final day before they gave in, but they finally did. That's good for the economy, but they've already done a huge amount of damage with this shutdown... I only hope that people remember what they did when they vote next year. I know it's a ways off, but this is what you get when you elect today's Republican party: an inability to govern. Maybe the Republicans will be stupid enough to try this again in January or Feburary, or sometime later next year... we'll see.

[Dark Jaguar]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24563189

Here is a news article just to show this really is the case.

[A Black Falcon]

http://news.yahoo.com/ax-falls-antarctic...47868.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15...01143.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...nurse.html
Etc.

This shutdown had no major lasting effects... nope... no people who died needlessly, no important research that won't happen... oh wait, yes there was, both of those things happened!

So yeah, we should just do this again next year, right? What a good idea. Because taking away peoples' health care is THAT IMPORTANT!

[Weltall]

I hope they try it again next year. Every chance they get. The closer to November, the better.

[A Black Falcon]

If it could get us a Democratic house, yeah, I'm sure it would do much more good than harm... so go for it, hopefully in October or so! :)

[Weltall]

Today's GOP seems pathologically self-destructive. Really, only the Democrats can beat the Democrats next November at this rate. Of course, never underestimate the Democratic Party's willingness to do it.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Rtan where the hell have you been. I never see you in Facebookland anymore.

[Weltall]

I've had some personal issues that make Facebook not a place I want to be at the moment. I'll probably be back eventually.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Oh, alright. Hope everything is alright brah. :(

[Dark Jaguar]

It has been revealed to me, very recently, that my entire family is talking to each other on the facebook, like all the time, and I'm apparently now some sort of aloof black sheep or something (I HAVE A PHONE PEOPLE, just like, TALK to me!). I didn't even realize this HAPPENED, but it's a reality now. Further, they talk about me, namely, how I'm not there, and events in my life. That means that even if I ignore facebook so they don't get my data, it DOESN'T MATTER, because they get my data ANYWAY thanks to people that know me talking too much. I hate Facebook. They muddled in my affairs. Who told them they have permission to change the world without me?

[A Black Falcon]

I have family on Facebook, I hope they're not doing that... but it's probably happened sometime. :S

[Weltall]

Well, just to be fair to all of my Facebook peoples, it's not because of anything they did that I'm staying away from it.