Sanctimonious Fucktards

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I'm guessing you guys can guess where this one's going.

Imagine for a moment the very smart couple.  They got their education.  They got married.  They had their careers, they bought a house.  At thirty, they decided to start their family.  They had three beautiful, amazing children, who are a testament to their parents' awesomeness.  They did everything right.  And in 2008, they got knocked on their asses when they both lost their jobs to the Great Recession.

Over the last few years they have been knocked around badly, not knowing where the next job, the next meal, the next temporary housing situation was going to come along.  They and their children have been amazingly resilient, though not without their bruises from these ordeals.  But finally - finally! - they are getting back on their feet.  Back into regular employment, back into regular housing, and regular meals.

Or, they were getting back on their feet, until October 1st when they got the dreaded news: furloughed.

I don't think the sanctimonious fucktards who caused this shutdown can appreciate the word "dreaded."  They have no idea, not the faintest wisp of empathetical understanding, of what it is to live in terror of having no paycheck.  No net, no back-up plans, no hope of escape, and now, no help from the government they have been helping with every precious paycheck for so many years.

Let's imagine someone else now.

There are millions of pregnant women out there this very moment.  A significant number of them are still in their first trimester, or early in their second.  Early enough to get an abortion in most places.  Almost none of these women (as a percentage of the overall population) is rich enough to not be worried about their own finances, let alone the overall economy.  Many, many, many of these women are very, very worried about their own finances. 

So think about one of these more anxious, more desperate women.  Maybe she was smart and did everything right.  Maybe she wasn't that smart.  Maybe she was foolish enough to trust, in people, in situations.  Maybe she didn't tread carefully enough.  Maybe she was just human.  Whatever path brought here, here she is - due, and dreading what kind of life her child might have.  What do you think that pregnant woman is thinking now when all safety nets have been removed?  How much trust does she have that those nets will be restored? that they will be enough?  How much does she trust that they won't be ripped away again before she's more stable?  And how long will that take?

Does she dare keep the baby?  When she has been robbed of the means to care for herself and the child, and robbed of all confidence that there will be a safety net if she were to need it again - how can she bring herself to invest in a human life under those circumstances?

These are not hyperbolic or abstract examples.  These are real fucking people and there are thousands - millions - of them.  Their pain - their daily, living, breathing dread - is very fucking real.  And not only are they suffering directly by the hands of these self-righteous, self-deluded bigots, but everyone else is going to begin suffering by proxy.  Even the rich are eligible for fallout, whether or not they are willing to acknowledge it.

I confess I'm feeling a bit hostile writing this.  And I was in such a good mood today...  But this is a Miller's Facepalm of epic proportion.  And if somebody says the words "Obama's shutdown" in front of me, I will have a very difficult time not punching them in the face.  And I'm such a nice person...  But no matter how much some people want to engage in rebranding and double-think, this is in no way a bi-partisan impasse.  This was a directly Republican engineered disaster. 

This was in no way unavoidable.  Conflicting budgets were passed by each house six damn months ago, and all they had to do then was follow normal procedures and appoint the people from each house to sit down together and hash it out.  But that didn't happen, did it?  Nope!  And, yes, it was because of the Republican leadership.  Even now, all the Speaker has to do is bring a bill to the floor to be voted on that would fund the government - at sequester levels! - for a few weeks while they finally sit down and try to agree on a budget.  He will not bring the bill to the floor.  One guy.  One asshole.  One great big sanctimonious fucktard is choosing to continue this.

And compromise?  That's like saying you'll stop punching someone in the head if some other guy will start kicking him in the nuts.  Either way, if you get what you're demanding or you keep doing what you're doing, someone's going to the hospital.  And, oh yeah, he doesn't have health insurance.

There are plenty of reasonable Republicans out there who don't want this.  But they are complicit in this theft and abuse of these citizens who are being robbed of their pay, of their life-saving assistance.  And they are just as guilty of the reckless endangerment of public safety.  And, oh yeah, the economic safety of the fucking world if they continue this through the debt ceiling, too.  Even if you do believe that the Affordable Care Act has serious problems, and even if you believe this could actually rectify any of those problems, the consequences of this tactic are, right now, doing more real harm to far more people.  If you want to get rid of Obamacare, vote it out with something better.  This is just not worth it.