There is an entire section of the Broadway production of\u00a0Hamilton<\/em>,\u00a0The Musical,\u00a0<\/em>when the personal tragedies of the central figure overwhelm the show.\u00a0\u00a0Hamilton\u2019s torrid sexual affair is discovered by his political opponents, and he counters by publishing all the details in the “Reynolds Pamphlet”.\u00a0\u00a0His wife, Elisha, doesn\u2019t leave him, but she cuts him out of her life.\u00a0\u00a0Then their oldest son, Phillip, is killed in a duel while defending his father\u2019s good name.\u00a0\u00a0That ultimate tragedy brings Alexander and Elisha back together again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s heartbreaking, culminating with the haunting song, \u201cIt\u2019s Quiet Uptown\u201d, about living the unimaginable loss of losing a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the audience deals with all of the Hamilton\u2019s personal agony, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison enter the stage.\u00a0\u00a0Jefferson pleads to the unseen playwright, speaking for himself and the audience; \u201cCan we get back to politics?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Madison joins in, \u201cPlease?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, history \u201crhymes\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0America has been on a roller coaster of emotions from ICE roundups to troops in the city streets.\u00a0\u00a0A scandal of massive proportions looms with the EPSTEIN FILES.\u00a0\u00a0Then the darling of the MAGA-Republican movement, Charlie Kirk, was brutally shot down on an Utah college campus.\u00a0\u00a0The fallout from the assassination is still reverberating, but meanwhile, another shooter opened fire on a Dallas ICE facility.\u00a0\u00a0One detainee was killed, two others were wounded.\u00a0\u00a0America is stricken with the tragedies, and the steep fall into the chaos of the Trump Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can we get back to politics, please?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Congress is deadlocked over a looming budget deadline.\u00a0\u00a0On September 30th<\/sup>, the government authorization to spend money expires.\u00a0\u00a0If there is no new authorization, essentially a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, the government will literally shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a common political issue, regularly dealt with by America\u2019s leaders.\u00a0\u00a0But to avoid a shutdown, it requires something very difficult to do in our ultra-polarized world; cooperate.\u00a0\u00a0It takes a majority of the House of Representatives, but more importantly, it requires sixty Senators to reach an agreement.\u00a0\u00a0In the US Senate, the count stands at 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats.\u00a0\u00a0At least seven Democrats are needed to sign onto a deal. Then the President still needs to sign the \u201cbill\u201d into law.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats, in the minority in both Houses of Congress, are making a stand on health care.\u00a0\u00a0They are fighting to keep the government support of the Affordable Care Act at the same levels.\u00a0\u00a0Republicans plan on cutting that support, likely throwing millions off of government assisted health insurance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Senate seems nowhere close to reaching some sort of budget deal, though, that\u2019s really not unusual, five full days before the \u201cdrop dead\u201d date.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the White House is playing an even greater game of political \u201chard ball\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Today, they\u2019ve threatened to fire thousands of Federal employees if the Democrats refuse to sign off on the health care cuts.\u00a0\u00a0The Trump Administration will not only close the government down, they\u2019ll take the opportunity to cut more jobs (after the thousands let go in the DOGE cuts earlier this year).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the kind of threat that concerned Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last spring.\u00a0\u00a0Back then, he was afraid that shutting down would increase the Presidential power grab that was then just beginning.\u00a0\u00a0It will be interesting to see if Schumer will fold again this next week.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps Trump already grabbed the power that Schumer was so worried about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this is nothing new.\u00a0\u00a0President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich had a similar standoff back in the 1990\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0And Jimmy Carter famously walked from the White House to the Capitol to resolve a budget standoff back in the 1970\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0But today, there is one significant difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Past shutdown standoffs always were predicated on the belief that all parties, ultimately, wanted the government to stay open.\u00a0\u00a0Government shutdowns are messy.\u00a0\u00a0Folks that depend on the government, from healthcare, to payment for government contracts, to the National Parks, get closed down.\u00a0\u00a0While Social Security payments (and Medicare, run by a private contractor) continue, many other government functions stop.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s bad for the country, and bad for the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there are real questions whether the Trump Administration wants the government to stay open.\u00a0\u00a0They are committed to cutting the Federal government to \u201cthe bone\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0A shutdown may give them the excuse to do that anyway.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s back to \u201cnormal\u201d politics this week, but with a twist.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s nothing \u201cnormal\u201d about the Trump Administration.\u00a0\u00a0A shutdown may be just what they want to do.\u00a0\u00a0After all, if Congress can\u2019t do anything, all that\u2019s left is the President, unfettered by Congressional oversight.\u00a0\u00a0Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison would roll in their graves about that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rhyming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Deadlock<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hard Ball <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What Trump Wants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n