On the Shutdown....

People:

Before you begin your rant about how terrible everyone in Washington is, make sure you get the facts straight.

This is NOT about the President, who is asking Congress to pay for expenses they've already approved, including the Affordable Care Act, which was approved by two houses of Congress, signed into law, upheld by the Supreme Court, and, when made into a central issue of the 2012 election, was not overturned by the voters.

This is NOT about the refusal of Democrats to compromise. Obamacare IS the compromise. It was the Republican counterproposal to the nationalized health care plan from the Clinton administration. That's why Mitt Romney pushed it through in Massachusetts (yes, the economist who wrote the Massachusetts plan said Romneycare is the same as Obamacare). It's a mandate for people to buy PRIVATE health insurance. Nothing could be more Republican. Many Democrats hate/d the Affordable Care Act because it didn't nationalize health care, but they . . . compromised . . . so 40 million more Americans, including people with pre-existing illnesses, could get health care. There's been no Republican counter-proposal because OBAMACARE IS THEIR PLAN. Obama adopted it because he thought they'd support their own plan. How crazy was that?

This is NOT about "Congress." The Senate -- which has brought the House resolution to the floor multiple times, and amended and approved the amended bill by majority vote -- has approved a "clean" funding resolution, but the Speaker of the House WILL NOT ALLOW THAT RESOLUTION TO COME TO THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE FOR A VOTE. Were it to be voted on in the House, there's a reasonable probability it would pass with support of Democratic members and a significant number of moderate Republicans.

Why won't the President and the Senate accept the Republican proposal to delay a year? Because it's already been delayed. The Republicans are trying to stall until after the 2014 elections, hoping to win both House and Senate so they can overturn the law. They also are terrified that once people sign up and get healthcare and like it, they'll think -- as they did with Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security -- that it's a pretty good thing. THAT, Senator Cruz, is the real message of "Green Eggs and Ham," which you completely misunderstood.

This IS about a small group of about 30 legislative terrorists who would rather blow up the government than permit legislation they don't like, even when approved by majority vote, to be enacted. It's also about a Speaker of the House who will not permit a bill to come to the floor for a vote unless the terrorists approve.

This is really about whether we believe in democracy -- in majority rule -- or not. You don't get to wreck the country every time you don't get your way.

If all the Border Patrol officers -- who as of this morning are working without pay -- would go home, I wonder how long it would take the Senators from Texas to get the message?

Please feel free to share this as you'd like.