Despite apocalyptic scenarios painted by some members of the Democrat-media complex, a U.S. government "shutdown" looming on Friday would affect barely one in four workers.

But it's President Barack Obama's call.

If Obama follows the direction set by Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in previous shutdowns, less than half of the 2.1 million federal workers subject to a shutdown would be forced off the job.

And since 600,000 Postal Service employees and 1.6 million uniformed military personnel are exempt from a shutdown, fewer than one in four workers on the federal payroll would be affected.

In an analysis of the situation, the Associated Press reports that Social Security checks would still go out. Federal courts would still be in session. And virtually every "essential" government agency, like the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard, would remain open.

And, of course, Congress would continue to meet in an effort to break the funding deadlock that triggered the "shutdown" in the first place.

"That's the little-known truth about a government shutdown. The government doesn't shut down," the report stated.

Though Republicans were widely blamed for the government shutdown in 1995, current polls show the public evenly divided -- blaming Democrats as often as it blames the GOP.

Florida's Republican congressional delegation is unapologetic about standing against Democrats who did not even submit a budget for this year.

"We are in this situation because Democrats did not pass a budget last year when they controlled the House, the Senate and the White House. Now, Democrats are unwilling to come to the table on real spending cuts," said David Rivera, R-Miami.

"The House passed a budget for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year 45 days ago, and the Senate has yet to pass a bill. The only ones to blame for any interruption of government operations will be those who are unwilling to heed the call of the American people for fiscal responsibility.”

Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, said, "Unfortunately, Senate Democrats are pushing this nightmare scenario closer to reality through their steadfast refusal to pass any long-term bill that recognizes the need to get our fiscal house in order.

"I hope that as Friday nears, Senate Democrats will abandon their commitment to the status quo of record deficits and debt, and work with us on a responsible bill to cut spending significantly and keep the government open.”

Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, observed:

“The truth is that we now find ourselves in a situation where, if Washington continues down the current path of deficit spending and adding trillions to the debt, our standard of living will decline and our economy will eventually collapse.

“Year after year Washington has continued to add trillions of dollars to the national debt. As a first step toward reversing this trend, I don’t think it is unreasonable to cut one penny out of every dollar in federal spending for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011.

"But a lot needs to be done to put our nation on a much sounder, more financially stable course and I’m still hoping we can all work through this issue together.”

Speaking for the Democrats, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York blamed the tea party movement for "pulling House Speaker John Boehner further back and back and back" from a budget compromise.

In Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Obama warned that a shutdown would set back any economic recovery, but former U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney discounted that notion.

"Main Street would do quite well if you shut down a good portion of the government, not including defense, homeland security and payments on the treasury debt," the Florida Republican said.