I know it's a tiresome discussion. I know that most people would rather not be having it. I also know that the government shutdown is an appalling hardship for hundreds of thousands of government workers, from janitors to park rangers to NASA scientists, especially during the Christmas season.
But, in its way, the gridlock that has settled in over Washington during this latest government shutdown is an important, meaningful milestone. How we resolve it — if we resolve it — will tell us whether we are still capable, as a nation, of making decisions using facts and evidence.