Government Shutdown and the Lives Affected

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In case you didn’t know or somehow missed it, the government shut down. You may

have ignored it since it does seem to happen a lot these days – but this time it’s for real. The

Federal government shutdown would be hilarious if it weren’t so serious. According to The New

York Times, some 800,000 people will be out of work due to the current shutdown. The evening

news is littered with stories of shattered people who are struggling to manage without an income.

People who have spent years in public service as a government employee are now being labeled

as “nonessential” and told to sit at home and wait to hear if they get to keep their jobs and return

to work. For the first time in their lives, some people are realizing how the government can

matter. And it’s not for the better. This is a very strange diplomacy to take for the party of “hard

work” and of “picking yourself up by your own bootstraps.” The Republicans in the House have

kicked the furloughed federal workers out of their offices, ripped off their government-issued

bootstraps and tossed them into dead-bolted conference rooms marking the bureaucracy. They

have stagnated progress and placed American lives on hold for nothing.

Well, not nothing – just trying to stop a law conceded three years ago by both houses of

Congress, and signed into law by the President of the United States and then reaffirmed by the

United States Supreme Court. And by the way, that law? It only develops health insurance to

millions of Americans. It’d be easy to blame this on the Republican Party’s obstructionist stance

toward Obamacare, and you know what? You’d be absolutely correct to do so. If you want to be

specific in your disapproval, though, you need look no fu...

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...action in one party

occupying one house in one branch of government should not be able to hold the country

hostage. They should not be responsible for risking our families’ livelihood in the hopes of

scoring political points. They should not be paid for breaking the system. Such a situation of this

proportion is absolutely senseless. But here we are. Settle in, everybody. Happy shut down.

Works Cited

1. Robinson, Rich. "Paid members of the Congress the real nonessential workers." Crimson White [Tuscaloosa] 8 Oct 2013, Opinion n. pag. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .

2. Elbein, Asher. "Shutdown begins due to refusals to compromise." Crimson White [Tuscaloosa] 3 Oct 2013, Opinion n. pag. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .

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