Saturday, October 05, 2013

"I'm packing my bags and leaving you to starve without me!"

Let's pretend I am an abusive spouse and parent.  I steal other family members' stuff and break their things and make huge messes.  And I insist that they would die on their own without me.

Sure, I sometimes settle squabbles between family members, but I always do so to my benefit- my interests come first.

And, I do some chores around the house- but I make a big fuss about it when I do.  "Look how essential I am!" I crow.  "Only I can do this the right way!"

But, I keep making a mess of the family budget, driving everyone deeper and deeper in debt, and I throw a hissy fit when I don't get all the money I want.  So one day I declare I am going to leave the family.

But instead of leaving, by any rational definition, all I do is lock a few rooms in the house and say no one can enter until I get my way, and I stop doing anything helpful- except the things that would actually get me kicked to the curb by a family who realizes how utterly useless I really am.

But I don't stop being abusive, nor do I stop stealing, breaking stuff, or making big messes.  I even still insist on settling family squabbles so I can continue to guide things to my favor.

Welcome to the "government shutdown".

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