I can actually see some positive things that might come from these current times inside the beltway.

“Shutting down the government should be as off limits in budget negotiations as chemical warfare is in real warfare,” Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said on Friday.

Source: New York Times

There seems to be a small crack in the Trump support among the Republicans in Congress. Some are actually thinking about trying to wrestle control of their party away from him. A small crack just might turn into something that will improve our dreadful situation with a ferociously lying president.

If the GOP just had the courage to do something we could end the shutdowns forever. It really is a rather simple thing to do and could be accomplished even before another shutdown could happen again in mid-February

All Congress needs to do is pass a simple three line law that says something like this

In the event that a current fiscal year budget is not passed, the budget in place at the time shall be extended for all federal agencies until a new one replaces it.

Yes, I know that there are many cowards in the Congress who are terrified of crossing this president, but surely we can find enough with a backbone to join their Democratic colleagues to override a likely veto of that bill.

Being an optimist, I can see these times resulting in rebalancing the excessive control of power currently in the Executive Branch in the not too distant future. All it took was one incompetent in the Oval Office to show us just how out of balance it has become.

The second thing I am optimistic about is that eventually, we will be able to elect officials who will actually look out for the good of the people. The easiest way to accomplish that is to put term limits on all congressional offices. I can actually see that happen!