Jenna Bremer | Contributing Writer

12:00 A.M. Monday September 30, 2013 marked the first governmental shutdown in seventeen years. Every shutdown is different, and the politics that caused them have varied. This time the motivation behind the shutdown is the House Republicans digging their heels in, in response to the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. The behavior of the House Republicans is embarrassing leadership; they force young Americans to find role models elsewhere.

A handful of House Republicans, namely Ted Cruz, John Boehner, Rand Paul, and Iowa’s own Steve King, have shown themselves to be the epitome of arrogance. Because of their hatred for the Obama administration they refuse to accept their loss and relinquish their vice-like grip trying to defund Obamacare. Through their own selfish desires they’re holding the American people hostage.

Pending the shutdown, Congress tried to reach a compromise that included defunding Obamacare. The Senate, and President Obama, previously stated they would make no such compromises when it came to the Affordable Care Act and they stood firm. With the House of Representatives unable to force the Senate and White House into yet another negotiation, legislators opted to hold the budget hostage and the government was forced to close the so called “non-essential” factions of government. Boehner and his lackeys refuse to acknowledge their lack in leadership. Were they the actual leaders we believed them to be when elected into office they would have found a way to negotiate and stop the shutdown before it even began.

“Non-essential” factions of government include: Federal courts, FDA inspection, Headstart programs, National Institutes of Health (NIH) research, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and dozens more. The FDA has suspended routine except in emergency situations, NIH clinical trials have been suspended; WIC has received funding through October but will have to close if the shutdown extends beyond that date, and disability and Veteran benefits may be delayed or not received at all. Not to mention the 800,000 furloughed employees who may never see repayment checks.

Here is the bottom line: Obamacare is law. There should be no fight in Congress concerning Obamacare. In 2010 President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law; in 2012 the Supreme Court, the nation’s highest federal court and the final interpreter of federal constitutional law, upheld the act as constitutional. The fact of the matter is, government shutdown or not, Obamacare went into effect October 1, 2013. There is no fight; there is only the law.

The shutdown is an embarrassing indication that the two parties, elected by the people for the people, don’t remember who they work for anymore; the fact that they are forcing the American people to put their lives on hold while they bicker, name-call, and waste time like children is shameful and disgusting.

The personal views of the House Republicans have overshadowed what they are supposed to be representing — the people. They are unable to put the well-being of the country and the people ahead of their personal vendetta against the Obama administration. And that is unfortunate. It’s unfortunate that young Americans are driven out of the country to look for political role models. It’s unfortunate that Americans will remember these men as political giants when they are nothing but small minded dwarves.