I don’t give a flying monkey fart who’s to blame for the shutdown.
I don’t care if it’s the Democrats refusing to budge on healthcare or the Republicans refusing to come to the table. I don’t care whose press conference sounds more polished or who’s winning the blame game on cable news.
What I care about is this: the barn is falling down.
And instead of fixing it, we’ve got a donkey tied to one beam and an elephant tied to the other, both pulling in opposite directions while the American people stand in the middle, trying not to get crushed.
This isn’t politics. This is negligence.
The 2025 government shutdown is now one of the longest in U.S. history. At the heart of it? A fight over healthcare subsidies—specifically, the enhanced tax credits that have helped millions afford insurance through the ACA marketplaces. Republicans want to let them expire. Democrats want to keep them. And instead of negotiating like adults, they’ve decided to hold the entire country hostage.
Meanwhile, people are losing access to food assistance. Federal workers are furloughed or working without pay. Tribal communities are bracing for the loss of SNAP and healthcare programs. And the longer this drags on, the more damage is done.
And while they argue about subsidies, here’s the truth: healthcare is unaffordable either way.
With subsidies, you still pay hundreds a month for coverage that barely covers anything. Without subsidies, you might as well start Googling home remedies and praying for good luck.
So maybe—just maybe—we should fix that first.
Cap the costs.
Open up real competition.
Let citizens choose providers without being punished for it.
Make preventative care accessible.
Stop tying insurance to employment.
And for heaven’s sake, bring back the kind of community care where you could trade a chicken or two for a house call and a homemade apple pie for a cold remedy.
Because right now, it feels like we’re paying top dollar for bottom-tier care.
Out here on the farm, when a beam starts to crack, you don’t argue about who should fix it. You don’t tie your animals to it and yank in opposite directions. You grab a post, a hammer, and a neighbor, and you shore it up before the whole thing comes down.
But Washington doesn’t work like that.
They’d rather let the roof cave in than admit the other side might have a point. They’d rather let families go hungry than risk losing political leverage. They’d rather gamble with healthcare than compromise on coverage.
And we’re the ones paying for it.
We’re the ones watching our kids lose access to school meals. We’re the ones wondering if our prescriptions will still be covered. We’re the ones holding the line while they play tug-of-war with our lives.
I don’t care what party you belong to. If you’re in office and you’re not actively working to reopen the government and protect the people you serve, then you’re part of the problem.
Because this isn’t about elephants and donkeys anymore.
It’s about the damn barn.
And it’s falling down.
And we’re still inside it.
Healthcare should be a basic right, not a political bargaining chip. It shouldn’t take a shutdown to remind people that sick kids still need medicine, pregnant women still need prenatal care, and elders still need their prescriptions.
So while they argue over who’s to blame, I’m here patching the barn with whatever I’ve got.
And I’m telling you now: if we don’t stop playing tug-of-war with people’s lives, we’re going to lose more than a few beams. We’re going to lose the whole damn structure.
