Hullo all.
Breaking this address up into many small tweets would probably rob it of any muster it has, so I have opened up my blogger to get this out.
We are, somehow, approaching the second United States government shutdown in 3 years. This year, unlike last year, I did not write my congress peeps. Perhaps I should've, but I'd rather not write them the same letter with facts they already know: the Government Shutdown of 2013 caused great disruption in the work done at the lab I work at. While I am not a Federal employee, 1.) My colleagues who are feds did feel stress, and 2.) trying to work from home just plainly felt weird.
The prior government shutdown was caused primarily by Republicans' opposition to Obamacare, which has been an amazing overall success after its initial hiccups.
The upcoming potential government shutdown will be caused by Republicans' opposition to women with quality lives, which are lives I admire whenever I encounter them and learn much from if I have the privilege of engaging with at any level.
Now don't get me wrong, there's a sizeable number of people who needed Obamacare in order to have any shot of healthcare at all. This includes some in my family.
About half this country is composed of women, however: easily more people than those that needed Obamacare to get healthcare. A lot of them are feeling pretty miserable, no thanks to entitled feeling, baby-faced and otherwise, men who collectively and without mercy harass them and attempt to dictate how to live their solitary lives. This includes what to do with their bodies: the one they actually control, and the one that might be developing in them.
So to defund a major provider of health care for women, due to just one of many of their services being offensive to them, is pretty disgusting.
Thus I get to the should'ves and could'ves of this write-up. In a vacuum, one could expect congress to come together after last year's close call and make plans to avoid a shut down this year. One could expect Democrats and others in left field to make deals with the Republicans in right field after they signaled in Spring and Summer that they'd be willing to use Planned Parenthood's defunding as a lever into continued funding for the government.
That could have ended one of 2 ways in terms of no government shutdown: Dems could manage to keep PP defunding out of the continuing resolution (highly unlikely), or they could let it pass with defunding.
But it would say a lot of horrible things about this country if our government continued operating while starving an essential health source for women. A source that gives us some credibility as a first-ish world country with some respect for human rights.
So... in a sense, I say let it happen. Let the negative consequences of government shutdown really sink in. Let passion for womens' health rise and the government continue operating if and only if womens' health gets the respect and appreciation it deserves in the form of adequate funding.
... and, hopefully, people are reminded that the current Republican Party as a whole does not serve the best interests of our country. Whatever trivial good points the Republicans have don't mean a thing when collectively they pull profoundly undemocratic and undiplomatic stunts like this.
Until next time, good night and good luck!!!
