There is really nothing complicated about the facts. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted all the money required to keep all government activities going -- except for ObamaCare.

This is not a matter of opinion. You can check the Congressional Record.

As for the House of Representatives' right to grant or withhold money, that is not a matter of opinion either. You can check the Constitution of the United States. All spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives, which means that Congressmen there have a right to decide whether or not they want to spend money on a particular government activity.

Whether ObamaCare is good, bad or indifferent is a matter of opinion. But it is a matter of fact that members of the House of Representatives have a right to make spending decisions based on their opinion.

ObamaCare is indeed "the law of the land," as its supporters keep saying, and the Supreme Court has upheld its Constitutionality.

But the whole point of having a division of powers within the federal government is that each branch can decide independently what it wants to do or not do, regardless of what the other branches do, when exercising the powers specifically granted to that branch by the Constitution.

The hundreds of thousands of government workers who have been laid off are not idle because the House of Representatives did not vote enough money to pay their salaries or the other expenses of their agencies -- unless they are in an agency that would administer ObamaCare.

Since we cannot read minds, we cannot say who -- if anybody -- "wants to shut down the government." But we do know who had the option to keep the government running and chose not to. The money voted by the House of Representatives covered everything that the government does, except for ObamaCare.

The Senate chose not to vote to authorize that money to be spent, because it did not include money for ObamaCare. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he wants a "clean" bill from the House of Representatives, and some in the media keep repeating the word "clean" like a mantra. But what is unclean about not giving Harry Reid everything he wants?

If Senator Reid and President Obama refuse to accept the money required to run the government, because it leaves out the money they want to run ObamaCare, that is their right. But that is also their responsibility.

In a recent commentary, American economist Thomas Sowell explains why the Democrats are the ones who shut down the U.S. government.

Right, and the Senate simply sent the bill back without the part defunding Obamacare. The matter of the ACA was settled years ago, and the idiotic Republicans in the House thought they could actually get it shut down without working with Democrats. They just threw the ball over the fence and declared that the other side isn't playing, which isn't how Congress works, nor how bills get passed.

This is totally the Republicans' fault. The funnier part is that they're now saying that the President isn't negotiating with them, which is also a lie. President Obama was trying to negotiate with Republicans since he entered office, and there were many attempts to work with them in his last term, including putting Welfare on the table. Of course, the Republicans didn't negotiate then, either.

Now, assuming that argument is valid, what, exactly, are the Republicans negotiating from? What would they be willing to give? It looks like the "negotiations" would solely be about how much of Obamacare they'd get to repeal. The law's already on the books, and they're acting like it's a bill still in committee. What morons!