Every year we are treated to the same shameless shutdown spectacle that itself should have been shut down years ago.
Part of the federal government shuts down over funding squabbles. When they end (and they will end) and the government is funded (yes, it will be funded), politicians of all stripes and persuasions will preen and primp and strut on CNN about how they and they alone saved the republic.
Forget House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; she has no more business being there than did her predecessor Paul Ryan. Forget the Democrats and the Republicans. If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. The shut down problem requires an institutional remedy, not a political one.
The difference is crucial.
Most protest movements, such as the yellow vest movement riling France this moment, fail. In the end, only Dr. Feelgood "solutions" are produced because protesters as a rule are incapable of distinguishing symbolic changes from real ones. Real ones involve institutional principles and practices which are the rules of the game. The pros watching from behind lace curtains the protesters in the streets know all that only to well. They also know that all they have to do is what they do best: nothing.
So, what would be an institutional change that would stop the congenitally-silly federal government shutdown showboat?
There are presently 27 constitutional amendments. Constitutional Amendment 28 would require that if no funding bill is passed by a certain date, the existing budget would be brought forward for the next fiscal year.
No politician anywhere wants that continuation; hence there would be no more funding crises.
Simple, effective -- and that is precisely the problem with our proposed amendment.
In a corrupt state, solutions are known but cannot be implemented.