The government shutdown! Now, this isn't the first government shutdown that we have experienced. I mean, the most recent one was just five years ago under Obama's administration. Obviously, we survived the last government shutdown, but many Americans are distraught about the "Trump Shutdown". Mostly because a lot of people don't know what a government shutdown means, what it entails, and how it affects us as citizens. To be honest, I don't really know what it means either, so I did my research.

First of all, the most common misconception is that a government shutdown means no government. We're in anarchy. Everyone take cover because the purge is about to begin! Well, that's not really the way it works...The thing is, anarchy is complete government shutdown. For anarchy to occur, there has to be no active, functioning government at all. In the case of the government shutdown, the government doesn't completely "shut down" like your computer does.

Instead, during a government shutdown nonessential offices of the government close.

That is why the military is still active, you still receive your mail, and airlines are still flying.

Then there's the "nonessential" offices, like the center for disease control and prevention, which shouldn't be functioning, but is still kind of functioning because of the flu epidemic. So, if the government doesn't actually shutdown, what is the point of the government shutdown?

Well, all government shutdowns have different reasoning, but the most common element is that government officials are needed for more important matters. Right now, that important matter is lack of money to fund government operations, like the unnecessary Mexico United States border wall Trump really really really wants to build, which also stems to DACA's immigration policy, and if those covered by the program should be deported.

Thankfully, the government is back in full swing as of January 22 after the Senate voted to provide temporary funding government programs until February 8th in exchange for Republican leaders promise to address the fate of those protected under DACA. That being said, before you pull a purge and start going on a murdering spree, learn what a government shut down really means.