Survivor's journal from the Great Shutdown of 2013

Remember folks, it's the political party you don't like that is holding the nation hostage when neither of them will budge.

Bill Clinton exemplified the hypocrisy of this viewpoint perfectly:

Former President Clinton steadfastly defended President Obama and Senate Democrats Sunday morning on their position in the debt-ceiling fight and criticized House Republicans for not being interested in real budget negotiations. 

"This is the House Republicans and tea party saying, 'We don't want to negotiate with Democrats,' " Clinton told This Week's George Stephanopoulos."They're mad because they don't want to negotiate."

Clinton defended Obama's position while calling the House Republican position "almost spiteful." "If I were the president, I wouldn't negotiate over these draconian cuts that are gonna take food off the table of low-income working people, while they leave all the agricultural subsidies in for high-income farmers and everything else," Clinton said. "I think it's chilling. It seems almost spiteful."

Clinton is simultaneously saying he wouldn't negotiate in this situation and shame on the GOP for not negotiating. What complete rubbish.

Republicans are using their power to defund Obamacare. They know full well that doing so would mean president Obama would choose to shut down the government rather than let them smother his health care act.

But in response we have both sides saying it's the other guys fault: Obama and the Democrats are to blame for his decision to shut it down or the Republicans are to blame for putting the president in that situation.

This is what gridlock looks like, and I'm sick of people saying it means Congress is "broken." This is how checks and balances are supposed to work, and neither party is required to back down when they lack overwhelming votes.

Despite all the fear mongering we're hearing today, the government shutdown of 2013 will be a brief inconsequential footnote in history.