Government Makes no Sense

I have absolutely no understanding about how my government actually functions. I swear that I took the mandatory social studies classes in grade school and in high school I excelled at AP U.S. government. Including college courses, that was probably the most insane class I ever had. The teacher required 3-4 one page essays 4-5 days a week, every week for the duration of the class. I exaggerate not, and any of my fellow classmates can corroborate this. This class is probably the one that taught me to type better and faster than all of the instant messaging on AIM that a high school person did during the true explosion of instant messaging. This class also taught me how, above all, to generate reams of content - even if I have nothing important to say. Astute readers and dumb readers alike can probably see this trend in almost every single post.

As I type right now and watch MSNBC, there is a larger window of C-SPAN with the big heading:

"On Motion to Recommit with Instructions" - Yea 192, Nay 227

What the hell is going on? The internet tells me that this is big news because the health care bill passed, but what is recommitting with instructions and how did the Nays beat the Yeas but yet the Yeas are really the people who won? And why was Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan so instrumental in the Nays beating the Yeas but in bizarro voting world? If I want pulled pork, I don't say "no thank you on everything but pulled pork", I say "Hellz Yea, give me that pulled pork." Furthermore, how did this bill actually pass? The Senate couldn't pass something but then they did because they sent it to the House and it went through something called Reconciliation and then it has to go back to the Senate for adjustments (even though it has already passed) - but then after all that I think the American voter can vote this bill down in the next major election despite everything else. This reminds me of absolutely nothing I learned in AP U.S. Government about 10 years ago. What does this have to do with the Hamilton letters?

Other things that have bothered and deeply confused me quite recently about the government - how was one person (Senator Jim Bunning) stop a bill extending unemployment benefits when every other person voting on this bill wanted it to pass? They didn't teach that in U.S. Government either. What statutory language regarding abortion and how is it relevant to an executive order regarding abortion? I feel like the concept of Executive Order was invented 10 years ago that gives the president the right to do whatever the hell he wants (prove me wrong, she's out there) without any checks or balances from the other branches of government (I guess that's the only thing I learned from U.S. Government).

The problem with government is I don't even know how to ask a question to get an explanation for things I don't understand, because I don't have the slightest idea where to start. No one has the time to make understanding government their full time hobby, and it seems like this is the only way to figure some of this stuff out. Let's take a vote!