The Government Shutdown is Just One Man

Here’s what gets me about the government shutdown: if a clean continuing resolution bill came to the floor of the House, it would pass. (It’s already passed in the Senate.) Democrats would vote for it — and Republicans, aside from the few dozen hard-core radicals, would vote for it too.

In other words, a clean continuing resolution has majority support, including support from enough Republicans to pass. That’s not the problem.

The problem is that Speaker John Boehner won’t bring that bill to a vote. It’s his decision. One man’s decision.

We can speculate as to why. (He may be afraid to lose his job as Speaker.)

We can also note that Americans consider as heroes those politicians who defy their extremist wing so they can do the right thing for the nation. And we condemn those politicans as craven when they don’t.