It may come as a shock to you, but if you are reading this you are alive and the Internet is working.
I know, I know. Surely you thought that today you’d, as we say in the South, “wake up dead.” And if you woke up alive, surely you thought the Internet would be dead, your power out, no running water, and looters on the prowl.
The government is shut down.
The military still serves. Police still protect. Hospitals and schools still operate. The TSA still pats down passengers who still board and fly on planes today.
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But the government is shut down.
Seriously. It is.
Just go try to tour the Washington Monument. Never mind that it was closed months ago.
Go try to tour the White House. Never mind that there have not been White House tours since the last disaster to befall Washington — sequestration.
The government is shut down.
Republicans did not want the government to shut down. They knew they would get the blame. They were blaming themselves before the government shut down.
Now, suddenly, they are blaming Harry Reid.
If truth be told, it is Reid’s fault, but then he wanted the government shut down knowing the GOP would get the blame.
House Republicans, on Monday, beclowned themselves. They would negotiate with themselves, send Harry Reid a continuing resolution, he would laugh and say no then send it back, and the House Republicans would negotiate with themselves some more.
It was embarrassing.
House Republicans should hold the line. They should demand that ObamaCare be defunded. They are going to get the blame for a shutdown. They might as well own it and keep it shut down until they get their way.
Sure, it will take time, but eventually Barack Obama will blink. I do not think, despite what fickle polling says, that the Republicans will be blamed by killing ObamaCare.
In fact, I think the Republicans run the risk of losing their primaries if they fold on this issue.
In Nebraska, Ben Sasse is running for the Senate. His sole issue is defeating ObamaCare. That’s it.
On that issue alone, Sasse raised eyebrows yesterday announcing he had raised more than $750,000.00.
This is a winning issue for the Republicans if they just have the will to fight. But too many of their old guard and outside pundits have been wringing their hands over this for a month. They have not wanted to fight and preemptively took all the blame.
I am reminded of Numbers 13 and 14 in the Bible.God told Moses to send spies in to the Promised Land. In they went and when they came back all the spies save Joshua and Caleb said Israel could never take the Promised Land. They blamed God.
God punished the Israelites. They had to wonder in the desert until all the doubters died off so the people could be free to have the courage of their convictions.
In this past month, I have wondered more and more how long the Republicans would have to go before finally tuning out the tired voices of past big government Republican extravagance.
Hopefully not forty years of wandering.
Instead, hopefully now they will embrace the fight against ObamaCare that Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have so fearlessly engaged in.
Republicans will get nothing from this shutdown unless they stand their ground and fight.