In 2013, a handful of Republican senators shut down the government for 16 days in a futile attempt to stop Obamacare.
As political theater, it was grating to watch because it was so badly conceived and incompetently executed. It was clear early on that it would not work. But it also importantly revealed that government shutdowns don’t matter nearly as much as the chattering classes would have you think.
During that 2013 shutdown, malicious bureaucrats went out of their way to make themselves and their roles seem indispensable, which dovetailed perfectly with the Obama administration’s strategy of making the shutdown as inconvenient and petty as possible so it would inflict maximum political damage on Republicans. Paid-up tenants were kicked off federal land. What other landlord does that? They tried to block people from visiting open-air monuments on the National Mall. It backfired.
Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, were found panicked over the dire electoral consequences that they, encouraged by their detractors, feared would follow the antics of those among their caucus who led the shutdown effort. But despite polls showing public anger in the heat of the moment, the shutdown swiftly became a nonissue after it ended and was largely forgotten by the time the voters cast their ballots a year later.
In the next election, the one in which punishment was predicted, Republicans tightened their grip on power by achieving their biggest majority in 96 years. They won governorships in two of the nation’s most Democratic states. Most importantly, Senate Republicans gained nine seats, seizing the majority and defeating five Democratic incumbents who had sought to make capital out of the shutdown.
Government shutdowns are dumb and should not become a habit. They typically cost taxpayers more money while the government provides fewer services. In the hands of malicious federal officials, shutdowns can become disorderly.
Depending on how broad and long-lasting they are, they can also cause minor trouble for a small minority of the public, such as those traveling abroad and needing special assistance, and federal workers, who may be forced to take time off or work longer all the while not knowing when their next paycheck will arrive.
But government shutdowns are not very terrible. Federal workers get paid afterward. Citizens and residents mostly don’t notice.
The shutdown this holiday season has been hardly the stuff of nightmares. Indeed, it has been especially mild. As during all shutdowns, Social Security checks have gone out uninterrupted. Three-fourths of the government has already been funded for the next nine months and is unaffected. Government employees, most of whom will be getting paid time off, won’t even miss a paycheck until well into January. Their next paycheck, in the first week of January, covers work that ended just before Christmas.
It is not without irony that one hears during a shutdown that “nonessential” workers will be furloughed. To which the obvious glib reply is, “Oh really? You mean not all the jobs done on the taxpayer dime are essential?” It makes you think.
Taxpayers shouldn’t want government shutdowns to become the norm or a frequent habit. But once every five to 10 years, perhaps, they remind people that most federal functions aren’t really that important. Which can’t be all bad.
