Member-only story
Shutdowns Are Dumb and Legally Dubious
The strange history of a strange practice
The U.S. government has shut down. Again.
The longer the shutdown lasts, the more it will take a toll on American society and our already weakening economy. Hundreds of thousands of government employees will temporarily go without pay. Crucial government data won’t be released. National parks will close. Air travel will likely become more of a hassle. And other services will degrade or disappear.
The media narrative around the shutdown, as per usual, is about political strategy and blame. Are Democrats helping or hurting their cause by shutting the government down? Are their demands — mostly about healthcare — the right set of demands to make? Does Donald Trump bear blame for the situation?¹ Will Trump’s vindictive response — threatening to take revenge by eliminating spending in blue states and at “Democrat agencies” — further damage his popularity?
Essentially, the horse-race-preoccupied media is focused on the question it always obsesses over: who’s winning?
But the story of the shutdown is more interesting than that. The American government is really the only one in the world that routinely shuts down over petty political posturing. As Robin Levinson-King and Anthony Zurcher write,
