A man can only stand a mule’s kick so many times.

Our great national nightmare is over — for now at least.

Some confusion surrounded the question of whether I should go to work this morning or tomorrow morning. It’s one of those bureaucratic things. I ended up going this morning although I had little sleep. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the culmination of ending this whole shutdown. And perhaps we will turn around and have to do this again in January. President Obama said “No.” Republican Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also said that it wouldn’t happen again.

 “One of my favorite old Kentucky sayings is there’s no education in the second kick of a mule. The first kick of a mule was when we shut the government down in the mid 1990s and the second kick was over the last 16 days,” McConnell told The Hill. “There is no education in the second kick of a mule. There will not be a government shutdown.”

But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said don’t be so sure.

Cruz was the one who got us there in the first place. It makes one think, if just one senator can pull some type of procedural shenanigan along with a few of his Senate cronies, then doesn’t this seem more like a fascist state than a democracy?

Many people and a number of institutions were hurt during these last 16 days, not the least of which were people like myself. My financial situation was no good to start with, only to have a personal foul committed by piling on upon my economic life. This makes me wonder what I am going to do to survive during the rest of my life.

Yes, you are quite right Sen. McConnell, the first kick of a mule is quite enough. We have all been educated quite enough.