Only 30% of registered voters turned out to vote earlier this month, the lowest turnout since the 1940s. This poor voter turnout perhaps demonstrates the overall apathy of voters, especially when it comes to participating in mid-term elections. It also likely reflects on how disgusted people are with their Elected Officials overall.

Now the Republican Party has decided a good first step would be to shut down the government as soon as December 12. Technically, the GOP has simply said they will decline to fund the government budget if they do not get everything on their wish list or if the President decides to take any action whatsoever.

While it is difficult to determine the full cost of the last government shut-down, we can estimate it wasted billions of dollars. We know it led to a downgrade of U.S. debt by the major rating agencies, and therefore an increase in U.S. government borrowing costs. We know it led to thousands of government workers being idled. We know all sorts of government programs were disrupted, from Social Security to defense. The one thing that apparently did not happen is that GOP leaders learned a lesson.

An elected leader's first decision after an election should not be to shut the government down. This decision only goes to show the ineptitude of so many current members of Congress. It also demonstrates the lengths some government leaders will go to avoid taking any positive steps towards building a stronger nation.

If you don't like the current spending plans why not propose a new budget and start working out the details?

If you don't like the current health insurance mandate, why not propose a better solution? If you don't want your neighbors to be able to see a doctor when they get sick, why not just say so? Why not let Ebola or AIDS run rampant through our society?

If you don't want to find a solution to the current problems of illegal immigration, entitlements, soaring education costs and income disparity, speak out loud and clear about your intentions. The silence on these matters during the recent political campaigns only emphasizes how far certain elected officials will go to deceive the public. The silence about who is giving millions of dollars to certain elected officials leaves us wondering which billionaires are really in-charge of our future. The Republican-led push to shut-down the U.S. government makes many of us wonder if it made sense to hold elections at all.


Excellent brain science article, read it again!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/science/learning-how-little-we-know-about-the-brain.html