It’s hard to remember a time when Congress was less popular or respected among the American people than it is now. When the October shutdown ended, it had featured national parks closing, barricading of the World War II memorial and other open-air memorial sites, and a stunning demonstration of bureaucratic ineptitude in the denial of bereavement benefits to the families of five U.S. military members killed in Afghanistan. No wonder the public approval rating for Congress is in the single digits.
Members of neither of the two major political parties have any reason to think themselves exempt from the near-unanimous public disapprobation. Democrats control the Senate that refused until the last possible minute to negotiate with the Republicans who control the House of Representatives. In the final analysis, it doesn’t make any difference who “caused the shutdown” because both parties were obligated to keep the government functioning.
