MN Shutdown - Who's at Fault?

Hear me out.  Even though I'm a liberal, I'd like to think I can look at this at least a little bit objectively. 

When we all went to polls last November, we voted for people based on our beliefs about how the government should be run. Mark Dayton made no secret of the fact that if he became the Governor, his goal would be to raise taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans.  And the Republicans who were elected in the legislature made no secret of the fact that if they won, they would not raise ANY taxes, and would solve the budget deficit by cutting programs.

Well, guess what?  All of them won, and now all of them are holding their ground.

What doesn't seem to be getting any coverage in the press is the fact that along with the cuts Republicans put in their budget proposal, they also added several non-budget related demands, such as banning abortion after 20 weeks, eliminating collective bargaining rights, and getting rid of stem-cell research.

What does any of that have to do with balancing the budget?  Nothing, that's what.

If the Democrats were insisting on adding marriage equality to the budget plan, I would be against that too, because budget negotiations are no place for social warfare.

Governor Dayton has been negotiating.  He's a agreed to scale back his tax hikes, and is willing to cut funding to some programs.  However, the Rupublican'ts continue to insist that all of their demands be met.  That's not negotiation, that's hostage-taking.

You have to give it to the Republican'ts though.  Many people elected them solely on the abortion issue, and they're going to give those voters what they want come hell or high water.

So whose fault is it?  The voters.  I hope abortion is an important enough issue for them to stop receiving their daycare assistance into the foreseeable future.