US Government Shutdown

If you are in the US and have listened to the news, you have probably heard about a government shutdown that started today.  My initial view is "so what".  Government shutdowns are not some new phenomenon.  They have happened before and they will happen again.

This is further exacerbated by a government that cares far more about finding ways to buy/control votes in elections than it does about responsibly spending hard earned taxpayer dollars (for the taxpayers not the government).  They can't come up with a budget, really?  Don't get me started on the insanity that is the debt ceiling (that comes later, more than likely the next shutdown). 

In my view, if the federal government shuts down and normal people can immediately feel the impact, the government is overstepping its bounds. 

Wikipedia link incoming:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdown

First question: Are shutdowns a rare event?
Since 1976 (weird year for a data period to start) the US Government has shut down 18 times.  18 times in 37 years, that is almost half of the time (48.64%, 37.8% if you are going by just the years).  It looks like it mostly slowed down toward the tail end of the 80s - the last shutdown before this was 1995 and 1995-96 (and the previous one to that was 1990). 

The average length between shutdowns was 2.6 years (though this is skewed by several events in multiple years). 

Second Questions: Is this a Democrat or Republican thing? 
Ok, this is not really an easy question, but i'll oversimplify...
House: 15 Democrat, 3 Republican
Senate: 9 Democrat, 9 Republican

Third Question: Did this happen more often to certain presidents?
* Ford: 1
* Carter: 5
* Reagan: 8
* Bush (the better one): 1
* Clinton: 2
* Obama: 1

Fourth Question: Do I think they had a valid reason for the shutdown?
1976: Yes (government spending)
1977 (x3): No (Medicaid funding of abortions)
1978: Partially (government spending/Medicaid abortion)
1979: Partially (pay increase for congress/Medicaid abortion)
1981: Yes (government spending cuts goal not met)
1982: Sort of (killed potential unnecessary spending)
1983: Yes (government spending )
1984: Sort of
1986: ??
1987: ?? (Contras aid)
1990: Yes (wanted deficit reduction, too bad he wussed out)
1995: Yes (tried to force a balanced budget)
1995-96: Maybe (squabbling over which numbers to use)
2013: Yes (seeks to delay steaming pile of crap program that isn't ready)

Fifth Question: How long do these shutdowns typically last?
The average shutdown length is approximately 6.8 days. The median shutdown was 4 days.

The longest shutdown in that time period was 21 days. 

I have a feeling (probably wrong) that this shutdown will last about 35 days. 

I think the Senate would have been well served if they would have delayed the start of the "affordable care act" (hint it isn't and seems like a seriously regressive tax, especially on low skilled workers) for six months.  They could claim the compromised, but their garbage program most likely won't be running decently (ok it never will) for at least 3 months anyway.

Sixth Question: What would I like to have be different in this scenario?
The big thing is that Congress and the president should not be paid during government shutdowns.  They can furlough non-essential workers, but they still get paid. 

I think that the US government should also change it's fiscal year end dates from September until January or February (before tax season ends)