This is Why we Can't Have Nice Things: A Case Against Stopgap Funding.

House Republicans have been launching a bunch of individual bills trying to fund certain parts of the federal government as stopgaps until they can negotiate an end to the government shutdown.  So far these stopgaps have included the National Park Service, Capitol Police, the NIH, civilian intelligence agents, and more.  While each of these stopgap measures would alleviate some degree of the pain of the shutdown, I agree with the President that these measures shouldn't pass through Congress nor should the President sign them into law.

I know that sounds terrible, and it is.  But a lot of people seem to think this is some sort of political negotiation.  It's not.  In a political negotiation two sides who want different things are willing to concede and sacrifice to get something in the middle.  The House Republicans are a splinter faction who has decided actual compromise itself is impermissible.  They want the Affordable Care Act repealed, and they're unwilling to do anything which won't make that happen.

The paleoconservative extreme right wing house Republicans aren't politicians.  They're terrorists.  They've decided that they want to shoot Obamacare in the face in public on video, and they've taken every federal paycheck, every federal job, every federal employee, and every federal service hostage to do so.  The stopgaps are like getting a terrorist to release one hostage out of dozens.  It seems like a good thing, that hostage is safe, and, in movies, they cut deals like that all the time. 

The real world isn't like movies, however.  If you've ever spoken to a real hostage negotiator, you'll find out that they're not usually action heroes.  They're usually clinicians.  They will, sometimes, negotiate the release of one individual, if that individual has a medical condition or similar, but, the vast majority of the time, it's better to leave everyone together, becuase, when you get the terrorist to release a single hostage, the remaining hostages increase in perceived value to the terrorist, and their release becomes harder to negotiate.  So, those stopgap measures would only make the overall shutdown longer and more painful to everyone not specially exempted.

But, there's another reason not to pass the stopgaps.  Here, the splinter faction is less than fifty representative.  They all come from secure, gerrymandered districts and have almost no chance of facing consequences of this action.  However, the other hundred plus House Republicans are going along for fear of primary challenges from the right.  Those hundred are vulnerable to pressure from the public, and, frankly, in this country, the public tends to take what it's given, but an angry public that knows this is the Republicans' fault may well start calling and writing representatives and making demands that their government actually govern. 

Each stopgap makes public outcry less likely.  So, unfortunately, it will just make the overall shutdown longer and worse.

There's a third reason here.  It's because the Republicans are the party of hypocrisy.  By which I mean, they allegedly believe in small government.  They don't.  They believe in government deciding who can't get married (gays), they believe in government deciding whether women can get abortions (no), they believe in government intervention in many of the most personal and private decisions of life.  They just don't believe in government intervention in the lives of the rich.  If you really don't like government, and you choose to run for public office and draw a paycheck, you're a hypocrite.

But that hypocrisy is a little beside the point.  What's important here is that the Hezbollah-like splinter faction House Republicans want the shutdown.*  They're giddy.  They're talking about the shutdown on Fox like it's a good thing.  They're vomiting forth talking points, and looking forward to detonating their bomb-vests and killing government.  So, any stopgaps merely free them from any feelings of guilt for their actions.

So, unfortunately, the programs we like can't be spared, or we risk prolonging this stupid shutdown.  They way to end it isn't to do so peacemeal until it stops bothering us each as individuals.  The way to end the shutdown is to increase the pressure on political talking heads.  They way to end the shutdown is to write letters, make phone calls, and spread the word.

Truth to power.

*I apologize to any members of Hezbollah who are offended by this parallel, or their friends and family.  Hezbollah is involved in a much more complicated set of political realities, and most members of Hezbollah probably aren't hypocrites.