Every once in a while, our dysfunctional Government decides to just completely stop functioning and shut down. This is a bit of a misleading term as a number of people are expected to keep working during a government shutdown, they just don't get paid what they are owed until the shutdown is resolved. As of midnight Eastern Time today, we have begun the latest shutdown. Even though Trump and the GOP have control of the White House, a majority in Congress, the support of the Supreme Court, and so forth, this is somehow the Democrats' fault if you ask a Republican (Democrats, of course, blame Republicans). Who is truly to blame for the fact that we couldn't even get a stopgap spending bill to keep the money flowing temporarily while a bigger deal was ironed out? Honestly, partisan views aside, everyone is to blame a bit.
You would think, despite how divided and screwed-up our Government currently is, it could at least iron out deals to keep the lights on and pay Federal employees. You'd be wrong, however, as the United States possibly hasn't been this divided along ideological/moral/social lines since perhaps the Civil War era. Still, nobody wants to, "Own," this shutdown or put forth much effort to keep the United States funded. I feel awful for any Federal employees, as at basically any other job, if you were told, "Hey, we can't pay you for a bit or let you take any sick leave, PTO, or whatever, just keep working until we iron out a budget," that would be illegal. Our actual government itself, however, gets to pull this shit, which is darkly hilarious and sob-inducing at the same time. I hope something is figured out sooner rather than later, but we shall see.
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