I am a big believer in the idea of a federal government. I think it is a smart and safe idea to have laws and I think that we need people who know about the intricacies of how the government works in office. In theory, the set-up of our government would work out great. However, in practice, our constituents have forgotten the reason that they are in office. This week, we had the first government shutdown since 2013. Though the shutdown did not last long, the threat of another shutdown was imminent, and we have been under threat of a shutdown for far too long.

Congress, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is defined as “a large formal meeting of representatives from countries or societies at which ideas are discussed and information is exchanged.” What a definition. The definition of Congress is civil, respectful, and informative. These days, something that Congress is not is civil, respectful, and informative. Over the years, this branch of the government has devolved into a pissing contest with overloaded agendas and overloaded attitudes. What does it say about our society that the majority of the people we have elected to lead us seem to be incapable of doing anything other than acting pettier than a reality TV star?

I understand that there are two sides of thinking and I understand that the people running for office are trending towards the extreme on either side of the aisle. But is this really the best we can do? We, the supposed best and most advanced country in the world? The supposed leader of the West? George Washington himself did not want this country to have political parties.

So what does this have to do with the government shutdown this week? It has to do with the fact that it was caused by partisan squabbling and ego-inflating. We as a country cannot be expected to function well if the people we appoint to leadership cannot even agree on how to fund this country. We the people need to take the time to examine the people that we are allowing to stay in office, and we need to ask ourselves if we really, truly, and honestly believe that the people running for office are doing so because they genuinely want to do right by their voters. Midterm elections are coming up later this year, and 468 seats in Congress are up for grabs. 468.

Think of the difference that this election cycle could make. Think of a possible future where a government shutdown was less likely, because we the people elected officials who were there to do well in their job, not to stroke their ego and pick on other people like a common playground bully. Think of the difference. Read up on the constituents for your zones, discover their part in all of this, discover their viewpoints, look at their voting trends, do their actions align with their voter’s actions? It is 2018. It is time to vote people into office who are going to work towards a solution, not a shutdown.

Register to vote here: https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote