It’s now Day 19 of some 800,000+ people, not counting their family members, being held hostage by the administration’s refusal to re-open the government until the president gets his way.

There are still no compromises unless the other side gives in. Meanwhile citizens’ lives are being disrupted more and more on a daily basis.

For what? So that a man elected to run the country and who swore to protect the people of the country and do so with the best of his ability can continue to play “I’ll show you who’s boss?!” while thousands of his constituents continue to suffer with no paychecks? While some on the other side sort of try to compromise, while others in their party just want to impeach the man so they can say they’ve gotten what they want?

Neither side is right, and neither side is acting in the interest of the American citizens.

And neither action re-opens the government and puts the real hard-working people back to work and earning a living.

Yes, we watched Tuesday night’s speech and the other side’s comments. And we saw no real emotion, no passion, on either side. Just a conglomeration of more political posturing and rhetoric that solves nothing.

One side wants what he wants and nothing less. The other side wants what they want as well, but at least actually said let’s re-open the government and then negotiate from there.

And that is the only sensible thing we heard during the whole speech and the other side’s rebuttal.

The “crisis of the soul” that was mentioned I can agree with totally, but not in the context in which it was delivered.

As one of the speakers last night stated, there is a choice between right and wrong, justice and injustice.

And right now, wrong and injustice are winning. The real losers are the federal workers who can’t get their paychecks. If that isn’t wrong and unjust, what is? They’ve done nothing to deserve this, yet no one seems to care about what they’re going through. They’re sort of forgotten about in the midst of this mess.

I haven’t forgotten them. And neither should you.

This has got to stop, and stop quickly. Our country wasn’t founded on a government hurting its own citizens to get what it wants.

Please, all of you, grow up, stop this political game of “chicken”, and do what’s right for the people of this country.

Is that too much to ask?