Deja Vu All Over Again

July 1, 2005; Minnesota state government partially shuts down. I am out of work for 10 days. Fast forward to July 1, 2011. Another government shutdown. This time government shuts down fully with only critical services remaining open. I was laid off as of July 1. Budget talks are at a stalemate, the Democrats want taxes along with budget cuts. The Republicans want to cut everything including the number of employees in the state work force. I'm tired of being a political hostage, yet I agree with the governor who would rather not throw the most vulnerable citizens of the state under the bus. He prefers a budget that mixes cuts with a tax in the wealthiest Minnesotans. I cannot reconcile my values with a party that only wants to hurt the most vulnerable citizens by making cuts to badly needed services while letting millionaires continue to pay less than the rest of us.