Green eggs and bullshit

So it looks like the shutdown might be over. I'm happy about this, because about 80% of my company was placed on furlough, so I'm glad they can come back to work without having lost too much income. Unlike government employees, who often receive back pay after shutdowns end, contractors are simply not paid when they're furloughed. Anyway, after this weekend of partisan posturing and spin, and opinions that diverge so wildly that it's hard to believe that people on the left and right are even talking about the same situation, I'm more than ever convinced that partisan politics is a scourge and a plague.

During the 2013 shutdown, as we all know now, Donald Trump criticized President Obama for failed leadership. He was right (because even a stopped clock is right twice a day), but the idea that the President is responsible when Congress and the White House can't keep the government open apparently no longer applies. In 2013, Democrats blamed Senator Ted Cruz for the shutdown, for the "Green Eggs and Ham" anti-Obamacare filibuster that shut down debate on the continuing resolution. They too were right, but oddly enough, the Democrats now have an entirely different opinion of a minority party shutting down the government over one pet issue. 

I'm in favor of broad legal protections for DACA immigrants. But it's not an issue that should have led to a government shutdown, even for a day. But more importantly, some things are right or wrong, no matter what party is involved. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have shown the slightest interest in actually representing the people who elected them. They don't deserve more loyalty than we owe to the truth or even common sense.  From now on, I will decline to take seriously any political observer, professional or amateur, who doesn't hold their own side to exactly the same standards that should apply to the other. Not in a box, and not with a fox. Not in a house, and not with a mouse.