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Two Cheers For A Government Shutdown

After today’s vote by the House of Representatives, the prospects for a government shutdown look better than ever. A temporary closure won’t be pretty, and it will be expensive. (As the Congressional Research Service recently pointed out, flicking the lights on and off isn’t free.)

Protesters demonstrate in front of the Capitol...

Protesters demonstrate in front of the Capitol in Washington, DC (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

But a shutdown might actually be good for us. Specifically, it might encourage voters to wrestle with a crucial issue: Is government really worth what it costs?

The odds of a shutdown seem pretty good at this point. Stan Collender, one of Washington’s most astute budget watchers, puts them at 60 percent. Of course, not every government agency will lock the doors at the end of September. Many functions will be exempt, including national defense, air traffic control, and key financial regulatory agencies.

But many federal offices will go dark. If you need something from the government after the first of October – like a passport, for instance, or help completing a form – then good luck to you; if an agency isn’t involved in the immediate protection of lives and property, it won’t be open. And people will notice. Not just people who work for the government (or sell it things). But plain ol’ regular people, too — people who vote.

Democrats are counting on this visibility. Polls indicate that voters will blame Republicans for a shutdown, and history suggests much the same thing. But Democrats should be careful. Public opinion is a fickle thing, and just because Bill Clinton “won” the last round of closures doesn’t mean that today’s Democrats will be as lucky (or as politically skilled).

But if the political fallout from a closure is uncertain, one thing is a pretty safe bet — shutting down the government will jumpstart arguments about the value of government.

And that would be a good and necessary thing. Lots of data show that Americans are unaware of the myriad ways in which government touches their lives. There’s nothing like shutting things down for a while to clarify matters a bit.

Americans complain all the time about the dysfunctional nature of American government. Why can’t politicians stop arguing? Why can’t they get anything done? And why do they have to be so relentlessly irritating?

The answer, of course, is gridlock. But gridlock is actually a symptom, not a cause, of our more fundamental problems. Dysfunction in Washington is a product of confusion in the voting booth. Americans are deeply divided — among themselves but also within themselves — about the central issues of our time: What should government do and how much are we willing to pay for it?

Sure, I understand that gridlock is partly a function of gerrymandered House districts. But that won’t be true come November, when Americans are likely to hand the Senate to the GOP. And the gerrymandered House is a reflection of polarized government at the state level, where Americans are also arguing about the role of government in society.

Americans are clearly skeptical about the value of government. Republicans have capitalized on — and amplified — that skepticism to engineer their own electoral victories. Which is what conservative parties are supposed to do (or at least what they can be expected to do).

The real failure belongs to Democrats. As the ostensible champions of activist government, they have done a remarkably poor job of defending it. Sure, they’ve gone to the mat for some elements of federal spending, especially entitlements. But Republicans will defend entitlements, too, at least much of the time. So that’s hardly a show of Democratic bravery.






A government shutdown won’t make that happen. But if we’re lucky, it might remind Democrats that arguments for government -– and the taxes we use to fund it -– are crucial. And maybe even winnable.

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  • msmox msmox 1 year ago

    Less government is always better government. I need to keep more of my money so I can pursue my interests instead of government taking those decisions from me. In other words, stop subverting my rights for wasted and wasteful programs dreamed up by people unaccountable to the laws they themselves have passed (Obamacare anyone?).

  • Joe Goog Joe Goog 1 year ago

    No harm in a temporary shutdown when the government has acted so irresponsibly with our tax dollars, pretending that we support wasted billions and want to continue forking it over. It’s time for disruptive action by taxpayers to get Washington’s attention, political correctness be damned. This government is no longer acting on behalf of the people and has too much power to be considered trustworthy. Change is not enough, it’s time to get radioactive or loose the liberties we hold dear.

  • Yea! Bring on another sequester!! We definitely need more defense spending cuts.

    Shut it down and make every single representative stand up and exclaim what they are for.

    Are you for taking care of our elderly? Do you think the government should be able to negotiate healthcare prices like most other industrial nations?

    If you are for cutting taxes you must be for cutting spending too.

    Are you for cutting 40 billion away from food stamps so defense industries can blow a trillion building fighter planes we don’t need and that don’t work?

    Getting real about spending requires our payola news media to get serious too.

    Building a just society requires taxing those who have more to support those who can’t support themselves. Rich people and the other well off are not going to simply give their money away.

    It’s time we get our priorities straight.

  • Anon Anon 1 year ago

    So you care more about shuffling around wealth from those who create it to those who don’t, than you do about giving opportunities to people to support themselves and create more wealth. Interesting.

  • Mark Bench Mark Bench 1 year ago

    what Alice implied I am taken by surprise that you can make $5491 in four weeks on the computer. official source http://fave.co/1aZIQea

  • User_afh User_afh 1 year ago

    The real failure belong to the American People. Inevitably the same old moron politicians will be elected to the same old districts. They will slouch behind their desks with their vodka, whiskey, rum or all of the above, get some little girl or boy to do all of their work, & then pay someone to think up lies at election time so they can keep sitting behind that desk.

    The American People are committing treasonous abuse of liberty. Don’t blame the politicians, if the American People had any sort of handle on control, America would not be the disaster that it is. Blaming politicians only prolongs the suffering. Why don’t you blame the morons who elect them for once, you know the ones actually responsible for this nightmare of a welfare state, radically marxist nation. The time has come for Americans to stand erect.

    We’re screwed. The American People could not build liberty if their lives depended on it. We’ll be at the mercy of despotism here in America. & you are not helping.