The saddest part of this shutdown stuff is that no matter how long it lasts, the folks that work in all these nonessential jobs will sit home on a free vacation and then get paid in full for the missed work. I do feel for the little guys who don't get a regular pay check and may be living paycheck to paycheck like so many, but in the end, it all works out to their benefit.

The news always trots out these low-wage federal employees (people who open and close gates at parks, etc) whining about how hard it is having their income cut while they're living paycheck to paycheck.

It may be callous, but I'd rather see every one of them starve before I see the wall go unfunded.

Republicans have also failed to cut elements of government that are evidently invisible to all but those who work at those agencies. If Republicans were smart, they would use this imperceptible shutdown to lay the groundwork for a spending fight during the debt ceiling deadline next year.

Republicans are not actually for small government. It's nothing more than a talking point. Any opportunity they've had to reduce the size and scope of government has been wasted. In my memory this has gone back to Reagan's promise of eliminating the Departments of Education and Energy. (youtube.com) I'm sure we have older Poal users, who can remember examples prior to that.