Gordon Forgey

As of this writing, the government of the United States is shutdown.

Congress failed to fund it and, consequently, certain services are suspended.

Some Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to fund government operations. They want funding approval tied to the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Recent polls indicate that 71 percent of Americans disapprove of holding the entire government hostage over one law. Other polls show that Congress has an approval rating of a mere 10 percent.

Despite these numbers, individual representatives in the House often get good marks from their local constituents. The body as a whole may be poorly regarded, but citizens tend to like their own elected representative.

The 71 percent of citizens unhappy with this congressional blackmail should take another, more objective look at their own representative.

Shutting down the government over one program does not show wisdom or intelligence. Changes and adjustments in laws can be made without jeopardizing all the rest that government does.

Elected representatives have a responsibility to their constituents as well as to the country. They should be judged individually by how well they meet those responsibilities. They should not be allowed to hide faceless in the crowd that makes up Congress.

The stalemate in Congress, the partisan inflexibility, the bitterness and the meanness of spirit afflicting government is basically because of the individual members.

Congress as a whole has been blamed for the dysfunction of government, but it is the individual members who should be blamed. They are Congress, and they determine what Congress does and what Congress is.

After consideration, it may turn out that a 10 percent approval rating is far too generous for many of these individual lawmakers.

Gordon Forgey

Publisher