Politicians’ allegiance lies in the wrong place. When our elected officials are prioritizing their parties, donors, and the lobbyist agenda’s first, “We the People” have a serious problem. As long as they can get away with it, they will. That’s why “We the People” have to unite and hold them accountable. We are in middle of a government shutdown. Why? Because politicians are putting their party’s political agenda before the American people. “We the People” aren’t demanding compromise, by no means, but what we do demand is action and discussion. The childish clips coming out of Congress have raised serious questions as to the ability of elected officials to properly work together for the benefit of the American people. Time and time again we have watched as a Democrat lays blame on the republicans, because republicans are the majority party in Congress. Time and time again we have watched Republicans accuse Democrats of holding up the necessary votes to reopen the government. Frankly, neither party is innocent of the government shutdown. Both parties have claimed it works to their own advantage. How corrupted is this mindset? Since when is Congress supposed to make decisions based on what is best for their parties. It’s time “We the People” apply pressure to both sides in Congress to get them to discuss their differences and reach a solution that puts the American people first! Enough of the political grandstanding, it hurts “We the People,” it shows a lack of respect for the responsibility elected officials bear, and it gives Congress a bad, distrusted name in our country.

             You might be curious how a government shutdown is a disadvantage to the American people. When our government goes through a shutdown period there are negative impacts on government funded programs, federal employees, and public services. The economy is generally strained by the shutdown, federal education funding halts, travel slows down because of delays and closures, businesses may face extremely long wait times for federal regulation approvals, federally funded state programs cease receiving funding, this leaves the state to foot the bill, this usually results in states going deeper into debt or altogether halting a program. Overall economics and operations take a hit as a result of a shutdown, and this is never good for the American people. Responsibility for this shutdown doesn’t lie specifically with one person or party, but with each Congressional member who is not actively trying to discuss and negotiate an immediate solution to this problem. By the way, Congress gets paid shutdown or no shutdown. This means while our elected officials fail to open the government for “We the People,” they keep getting their paychecks. Who’s at fault? Every elected official twiddling their thumbs or making useless TikTok’s. This isn’t a time for Democrats to bully Republicans and try to take advantage of the shutdown for their political party’s gain. It also isn’t the time for Republicans to stand on the sideline and throw blame at the Democrats. It’s time to get busy and get the government open for the American people.