Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
--"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus

So read the words inscribed on a plaque in the base of the Statue of Liberty, a national beacon that stands tall on the first US soil seen by generations of immigrants. How many people have fled their homes, desperate for a chance at the freedom and comfort America is said to provide? We are a nation of refugees, from the very first men and women who set foot on the shores of an unknown land in search of a place where they could worship in their own way, and in peace.

Hundreds of years later, we are facing history yet again, as the clock ticks down the three hours that stands between our nation's next fiscal year and a shutdown of our federal government. How did we get here? When did we get so tied up in our own personal agendas that we forgot that we are all in this together, and what affects one of us affects all of us? When did our public get so apathetic that we can't even get 50% to turn up to vote, at the same time that we watch countries around the world revolt for the opportunity to cast a ballot? When did our elected officials forget that they are there to serve us, the American people, and not the lobbyists or the corporations or interest groups? How did we get here? I wish I knew.

I'm sure someone could go back and trace events from a specific point in time, just as I am sure that the root cause would change depending on who that "someone" was. I can be pretty snarky (you might have noticed that about me), but tonight that part of me is at war with the side of me that is honestly quite terrified of the way things are going in our nation. Add in the sadness I feel for the government employees and military that are going to be hurt the most by this mess, and the disgust I feel at the legislators who can't put their petty, partisan bickering aside for long enough to do their jobs, and I'm just not sure what I want to say about the whole thing--or, more accurately, how I want to say it.

I do know that I'm tired of being made to feel like "less" because I'm a government employee, or because I'm part of the middle class, or because I'm liberal, or because of any of the other reasons I've heard bantered about over the last few weeks. I'm also tired of our legislators taking their election as a referendum on any issue--social, financial, or otherwise--and acting accordingly. I mean, right now, 2 and a half hours away from a government shutdown, one of the major sticking points is funding for Planned Parenthood.

Really, legislators?

The American people are barely pulling ourselves out of a recession, holding on to our jobs and homes and lives by our fingernails, and you are threatening to shut down the entire federal government over social issues? Aside from the fact that much of our national philosophy is based in our abillity to help others--can't that be debated later? Apparently not.

Since funding for Planned Parenthood is likely going to be the cause for our shutdown, let me be sure I understand this clearly: you (and by you, I mean the GOP) want to defund Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions. The same organization also provides education, birth control, prenatal care, general preventive health care for men as well as women, counseling, STD screening, cancer screening for men as well as women, infertility counseling, and many more services. What's more, they provide these services to anyone, not just in the US, but around the world. But you don't care about all of those things; we care about the abortions! So--you're going to defund Planned Parenthood because they provide abortions, also effectively limiting all other family planning and prenatal care that they provide. You're limiting pregnancy prevention options, limiting the patient's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy, and limiting the prenatal care provided to women who are forced to carry children they may not be willing or able to provide for. But then, when those children are born, you don't want to provide social services like food stamps or subsidized housing, because that's welfare and you're tired of welfare. Does that sound about right? I might also mention that most of you are old men, who are not now and have never been faced with an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. You don't have any idea what a woman goes through when her body is completely taken over by hormones and a whole other little tiny person. For you to presume that you do is, well, presumptuous. So back off my uterus, buddy.

Second, do you actually understand what "trickle down" means, or is that just a theory you spout when you want to promise more jobs but can't actually say where they're going to come from? Think of yourself as the board of directors of this great corporation called America. If you shut down the company, it hurts EVERYONE. That impact trickles all the way down the lowliest guy at the bottom of the pile, like the ripples in a pond after you've chucked a boulder into it. How is THAT helping to create jobs and fix America? Oh. I see...it isn't.

Update: It appears that my rant may be moot. Is it possible that our legislators have stopped squabbling like two-year olds (and I do mean those on both sides of the aisle. I've seen more civilized debate in my daughter's daycare class) and have actually come to an agreement? It appears they have. My original premise stands, however. If this is the kind of leadership we're destined for in the coming years...maybe I should become religious, because I'm quickly becoming convinced that prayer is the only option left.