The angry left and the yellow-bellied GOP establishment agree on one thing, it seems: a “government shutdown” is the worst thing ever, the voters freak out about it, and Republicans must capitulate on everything they can in order to avoid it.

But today the government shut down, and nobody cared.

That’s right, today is Columbus Day, one of those phony holidays that government employees and some contractors get off, but basically nobody else does. So it’s an almost completely arbitrary government shutdown, closing offices.

Sure, a lot of the government is still open, but that’s true of the budgetary government shutdowns, too. The only difference is today Barack Obama isn’t locking veterans out of war memorials to score political points.

Government shutdowns aren’t scary, they aren’t a big deal, and most Americans don’t care at all. Republicans must follow [mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ]’s lead and be fearless in exercising the power of the purse.

Photo by John Pemble on Flickr