Is the country starting to give in to the sense of madness that has gripped it since Tuesday’s government shutdown?

Yesterday, a man set himself on fire in front of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He continues to remain unnamed, and is still at Washington Medical Center in critical condition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7MRGgHKUC0

Nicole Didyk, an environmental engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration, told NBC that she was out for a run when she saw spotted a man with small flames on him.

“There were five gentlemen hitting him with their T-shirts.”, she said. “When he fell over his arms were all white. He was burned really bad.”

The location where the man was found on fire is about six blocks from the U.S. Capitol, where a high speed car chase on Thursday ended with a woman, now known to be Miriam Carey, a 34-year-old mother and post-partum depression sufferer, being shot and killed by law enforcement officers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAJuSXy4ack

Her boss of eight years, Dr. Steven Oken, described Carey as a “non-political person” who was “always happy.”

“I would never in a million years believe that she would do something like this,” he said. “It’s the furthest thing from anything I would think she would do, especially with her child in the car. I am floored that it would be her.”

What is happening in our country? Do we have a collective sense of hopelessness, because of this situation, that was triggered on Tuesday? What is driving people insane about this pickle?

Could it be the $300 million dollar per day cost for NOT running the government? Or perhaps the fact that around 80,000 government employees deemed “nonessential” have been sitting at home getting more broke all week, while Congress continues the playground bickering, which apparently pays pretty well?

The scary part: This is only day 5.

Image via youtube