Although I’ve only spent a little under 18 years on this earth and in this country, it doesn’t take many years of experience for me to know when I am being used.  When somebody manipulates you for their own gain, you feel violated and cheap, like you’re just a coin ready to be gambled for the gain of somebody that you will never know.  As I am writing this the American people are being stacked up as chips in a dangerous gamble, where there is nearly no way to win.  The United States Government as of October 1st was “shut down” due to the opposition of the radical Republican wing of Congress.  Because the House of Representatives has a Republican majority, they have ground monetary spending to a halt, refusing to pass laws for the fiscal year of 2014.  And why is this? Is it to stop a tyrannical force that a majority of the people hate? Is it to save the lives of many people in need? No, it is to repeal The Affordable Health Care Act.

Whether The Affordable Health Care Act is beneficial is not the issue, the issue is that the debate about the act has already occurred. Not only has there been an entire Supreme Court case over the legality of the act, but the people have elected President Obama twice and the Republicans have tried and failed to repeal it over 30 times.  Keep in mind the main effects of the bill are not in effect yet, and still the Republicans are willing to cut payments to thousands of Americans so there is a chance to shut down a bill that the people want, all the while claiming how evil the unseen bill is.  So, thousands of people have been furloughed, besides the essential people to society like teachers and police officers, as well as programs like Social Security and Medicare,  and the Republicans are all the while claiming that government isn’t necessary and the market will handle it.

So if Republicans want to shut down the government, I say maybe let them have it. Show them what it is like with no police officers, no Social Security, no Medicare, and I’m sure the voters will show them to the door.  But until the next election cycle, the American people will just have to wait as things like The Environmental Protection Agency and The National Institute of Health remain closed over a group of men and women who don’t care for the well being of the nation itself. To the Republicans, the nation’s citizens are suitable tokens for their gamble to desperately regain the power they once had.