One Week In

Well, the world still hasn't ended, but neither have we made any progress. The government remains inactive (partially), the tea party remains a group of insane extortionists, the country remains fed up. Nothing has really changed since before the shutdown since the part of government doing the legislating was inactive prior to officially shutting itself down. However they remain around to collect their salaries from our tax dollars. Figures. Only the tea party would be so anti-governmentally insipid that they shut it down and yet continue to spend tax dollars on their own salaries.

It doesn't seem as though progress is on the horizon. Doing what they do best, the tea party is refusing to do anything remotely helpful for the country. Despite having no strategy, no plan, no fresh ideas, no anything really, they are still waiting for Obama to "negotiate" as though there were something over which to negotiate. There isn't. This is the ultimate example of ignorant arrogance run amok. The tea party zealots don't have a plan to get what they want, and even if they did, they wouldn't have any ideas for how to fix America's broken healthcare system. So not only is a hostage taking farce, it's one without any alternative to that would help fix the problem.

The theatrics have gone on long enough. The charade is over. Each passing day the embarrassment that is the national Republican party backs itself further into a hole. There is no endgame, there is no plan, and until the people who want nothing more than to have their way get their way there is no government either. There has been no shortage of amusing analogies to the Republican hostage taking, so I will not here try to come up with another, but it is far past time we called a spade a spade and acknowledge that there is no failure to "negotiate." There is, in fact, nothing over which to negotiate. Negotiation requires that each party engaging in said negotiations has a credible plan it brings to the table at which point differences are argued over and ultimately a compromise is reached. If you think that is what is happening here, you haven't been paying attention.

I tried to go as long as possible with bashing the Republican party, but at this point what is left to say? Our government is an international embarrassment because about 30 people with the IQ of rocks are showing the maturity of four year olds and won't quit crying until they get their way. That is the depth to which we have sunk.

One week in and how much longer will we go? I suppose it depends on the leaderless mob of radical morons raising hell in the House of Representatives. I only hope that the suffering they are ultimately able to inflict is minimal.