When Obama was first elected, the conservative Republicans publicly stated that they would do anything they could to make him a one term president. When that didn't work, they vowed to make him at least be unsuccessful and ineffective. They basically succeeded in their second goal, by passing very few bills and blocking as many of his objectives as they could.
The one major bill that passed happened to be Obama's signature piece of legislation. The Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, was to be Obama's legacy and gift to future generations. Conservative Republicans did their best to block it from passing. When it did pass, they claimed it was unconstitutional and fought it all the way up to the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional and should stand, they voted. I believe it was 42 times to overturn it and failed every single time. This went on, even though the majority of their constituents wanted Obamacare and would've preferred that they actually work and pass some more legislation.
When it got to the point that they had no other way to block Obamacare, the Republicans allowed the government to shut down and the only way they will vote to reopen it is if Obamacare is delayed or renegotiated. Of course Obama is not going to allow changes to the bill to be forced and I don't blame him. What kind of precedent would this set? Will they then be able to go back and repeal past laws? How far could this go? I really don't think that once The Tea Party.got its foot in the door, anything would be safe.
And I know I'm preaching to the choir, but for those of you who don't know, there's a lot more at stake than just keeping the national parks open. I just want to mention a few of the lesser-known yet very important things that are affected by this government shutdown:
No Head Start programs in schools.
No Amber Alerts for missing children.
No national statistics, like unemployment levels, even though I don't think I want to now.
Reduced FEMA staffing and assistance so the weather better play nice
Reduced FDA inspections of food… Over cook your chicken and hamburger until this is over.
Reduced staff to search for missing people like those poor people lost in the desert.
I'm going to stop now because this is making me more frustrated.
I really think at this point everyone is acting like children… But especially the Republicans :-). I think everyone needs to share their crayons, play well together, vote well together and fix this mess that you have caused.
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