So the government shut down. Which is bad. And while there are no riots there are some serious consequences. The worst part, in my opinion, is that this all could have been avoided.

One of the responsibilities of Congress is to pass a spending bill. Given that the government’s fiscal year is October 1^st to September 30^th, this past weekend was crunch time to work everything out. But there was a small holdup; House Republicans are trying to use the new spending bill to defund the Obamacare law while House Democrats are trying to prevent that from happening.

The part that I find to be the most interesting is that the Obamacare law is not tied directly to the spending bill. Instead, the law is being held as leverage by a group of Republicans, led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Why you might ask? They believe that President Barack Obama is doing such a bad job at domestic policy that they are willing to interrupt government funding to undermine him.

This has to be the most ludicrous thing that I have ever heard. House Republicans actually caused the government to shut down because of a health care law. This sounds like something you would hear on SNL or the Onion. But no, this is happening right now. This has to be one of the most childish things that I have ever heard in my short 17 years of life. It is passive aggressive, asinine and all around ridiculous.

What makes this even worse are the effects that the shut down can have on the economy and the quality of life for the American people. For one thing, almost 800,000 workers could be laid-off. That is almost 800,000 people and families whose lives will be drastically changed.