The government has shut down again for the 5th time in 7 years.
The government shut down on October 1. That means Congress failed to agree on a bill funding government services past October 1. As a result, many workers are expected to be laid off, some services such as the Smithsonian, SNAP, and WIC will be delayed or shut down if their personal funds run out, and even more paychecks and benefits will be postponed until after the shutdown for many government employees, including military members. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, even said that he “hope[s] it’s very short because real Americans are going to suffer.” So the question remains: Why did the government shut down?
The problem lies in the Senate. There, Republicans control 53 seats of 100, with only 60 votes needed to pass the budget. However, Republicans time and time again failed to get the 7 extra votes required. As a result, the government ground to a halt last Wednesday, and there seems to be no end in sight as talks stall between Republicans and Democrats. But this failure to pass a bill only highlights a larger problem within the two party-system: Partisanship. Each party refuses to cooperate with the other, because to do so would be seen, they believe, as a compromise of the political base of their party. As there are only two parties, each government official must be ready to bow the knee and do whatever their party tells them to if they want to stay in office.
Of course, this is not the first government shutdown in recent years. In fact, this is the 5th in the last three presidencies (current one included), one of which was the longest ever shutdown (occurring during Trump’s first presidency). As such, some, if not most of the blame, has to be placed on Trump. Trump entered his first presidency by radicalizing the Republican party, altering their base ideology to be more extreme, yes, but also creating a norm of constantly attacking the Democratic party. As he is now the indisputable head of the Republican party, it makes sense why many Republicans would refuse to cooperate with Democrats – to do so would be against the current political base, which is the refusal of anything even remotely connected to the Democratic party. Of course, this is not to release the Democrats of any guilt, but instead to point to Trump for turning partisanship not into a defense of political ideals but instead the rejection of other political ideals.
Before Trump, the Republican party was built on a belief in the system of free trade and the reformation of entitlement programs like Medicare. Since, and as a direct result of, Trump’s rise to power in the Republican party, the ideals have shifted to an isolationist and protectionist America which prioritizes the destruction of entitlement programs and the complete denial of immigrants and diversity. In other words, these are not long-held ideals which the Republican party is supporting, even in this new budget proposal. The Republican politicians are merely acting as lapdogs, eagerly licking up whatever Trump gives them, because to do otherwise would be to see the end of their political power. And the most important part of Trump’s ideology is the idea that the Republican party is at war with the Democratic party. Don’t take my word for it; take the fact that before a congregation of the U.S. military’s top generals, he claimed that he needed to send troops to “dangerous” Democratic cities because “We’re under invasion from within.” In light of this, it is obvious that the government would shut down. The Republicans would not, and could not for fear of saving face, negotiate with those they perceive as the enemy. And the Democrats, who increasingly see the Republicans in the same light, refuse to either.
However, most likely in a few weeks, some sort of arrangement will be reached. Either the Democratic resistance will fall under the continued pressure of firings and delayed services, or the Republicans will claim that they’re being the “hero” by negotiating, and a bill will be passed. However, the intense partisanship that has developed over the last ~9 years will continue. There will be more shutdowns in the future, more necessary laws that are endlessly debated over, and as a result, more executive orders needed in order to pass anything. As long as there are political leaders like Donald Trump whose power rests solely in the fact that they oppose a particular idea, our political parties will continue to refuse to cooperate. Our political system, almost 250 years ago, was designed so that there would have to be compromise between the differing ideals in order for laws to get passed. It’s the basic nature of democracy as a government. But that ideal has been lost, replaced instead by a collective agreement among those in power that adherence to the party is better than the serving of their constituents.
