Two weeks into the government shutdown and only 3 days to go until the United States defaults on its credit line for the first time in history, it seems that “We the People” are demanding action from the federal government to end the shutdown and avoid what may end up being one of the worst financial crises our nation has ever experienced.

To make matters worse, all of the commotion occurring in Washington D.C. seems to have created a lot of confusion among Americans with respect to what raising the debt ceiling actually means.

To be clear, raising the debt ceiling in the United States would only allow the federal government to pay its outstanding bills, for things like military pay and Social Security. However, it does NOT give the government authority to increasing spending.

The harsh reality is that if an agreement can’t be reached in Washington D.C. by October 17^th, the United States debt ceiling will expire, our nation will default on our outstanding loans, our credit rating will be lowered, and our currency will be devalued.

Being that such an event would have catastrophic effects on the United States economy and the global economy at large, Congress has raised the debt ceiling a total of 94 times since 1940 without much of a fuss. But, for one reason or another, this time is different.

Since the shutdown began, talks between President Obama and top GOP officials in the House of Representatives went virtually nowhere. As the deadline grows near, however, “We the People” are actively exercising our right to speak freely.

Yesterday, crowds gathered in Washington D.C. to speak out against the federal government’s inability to work together to reach a resolution. Both liberal and conservative demonstrators held protests at many of Washington D.C.’s landmarks, voicing their frustrations with the current situation. Tea Party enthusiasts were even seen toppling barricades and stacking them right in front of the White House lawn. Generally, it seems the consensus among citizens of the United States is that the federal government is broken and something must be done in order to fix it.

At this point, it seems that our best chance to reach a resolution lies in the hands of the United States Senate, with talks between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell scheduled to resume today. Although Harry Reid was recently quoted as saying “I’m optimistic about the prospects of a positive conclusion,” senators seem to be squarely divided over how much federal spending should be permitted in a budget extension that would reopen the federal government and how long any new borrowing limit should last. The thing is that. even if the Senate reaches an agreement in the next few days, there’s no telling how the House of Representatives will respond.

With the debt ceiling deadline swiftly approaching, one thing is clear: “We the People” are running out of patience.

Some Americans have even taken matters into their own hands and have chosen to pick up where the government left off. John and Laura Arnold, for instance, have donated $10M to Head Start, where their doors have been reopened and children are now getting the education they need.

We at Follow My Vote believe that “We the People” should be able to take all governmental matters into our hands at all times, especially to prevent situations like this from occurring in the future.

We envision our mobile app, which is currently in development, as being the only viable long-term solution for true accountability in Washington D.C.

Our journey through the long and winding road to true freedom will not be easy and will likely be a costly endeavor.

On that note, we recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the continued development of our mobile application beyond the initial version, in order to support much more functionality and an improved user experience based on customer feedback.

If you’d like this to be the last shutdown “We the People” in the United States are forced to go through, please contribute to our crowdfunding campaign today!