Shut Down And Shut Up

Let the lying and finger-pointing begin. Just remember, only one party gave their leader an ovation when he announced preparations for government shutdown:

House Republicans huddled late Monday and, according to a GOP aide, gave the speaker an ovation when he informed them that he was advising the House Administration Committee to begin preparing for a possible shutdown. That process includes alerting lawmakers and senior staff about which employees would not report to work if no agreement is reached.

There's a fundamental difference between the parties. Republicans and teabaggRs love government shutdowns, because they only hurt government workers and the people most in need of government services. Not, in other words, Republican legislators. Democrats, who believe in the value of government and in the need for it to help people, try like crazy to avoid it, meeting halfway time and again, even as the half-way point gets moved ever further to the right.

It's called empathy, and it divides the parties like a canyon. One side really doesn't want to see people get hurt, the other side simply doesn't care. So, in a game of political hardball, who has the advantage?

The answer, of course, is clear. But what's never been clear to me, and I doubt it ever will be, is how the people who elect these uncaring and selfish and disingenuous legislators are the very ones (yes, rich people vote for them, too; but it's the deluded teabaggRs who've turned the tide) most vulnerable to the effects of their deeds.

[Update: more evidence.]