Sometime next week, the current shutdown of the federal government will become the longest lasting one in United States history. The House of Representatives has been out of session (er, in a district work period) since Sept. 20, and there hasn’t been much smoke around conversations to actually find a solution beyond recrimination of the fully out-of-power Democrats.
I don’t think will ever reopen in any meaningful way.
Reducing the federal workforce is unpopular and painful, but if you just…stop issuing paychecks…a lot of people will just leave. This administration will continue to find ways, legal and illegal because it doesn’t care, to pay the people it wants and, presumably, pay for the things it wants.
Voting to take away SNAP benefits and other social safety net programs is unpopular and painful, but if the programs just…have no money…then this problem solves itself.
Rewriting and passing new laws and regulations takes time and energy but if you just…let it all fall apart…there’s no one to enforce the law and you can just marshal special task forces to go after your political enemies and pet issues.
Once these things are broken, and people get past the initial shock of it, why would you ever reopen in a real way? You’ve achieved your longstanding aim.
If your party wants to dismantle government — which Republicans do — and controls the federal government — which Republicans do — and is willing to break the law to achieve its goals — which Republicans are — you can basically let entropy take hold to break the parts you want to break and fund the pieces you want to keep.