America held hostage, again

Editor's note: Thomas O. Falk, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a London-based political analyst and commentator. He holds a Master of Arts in international relations from the University of Birmingham and specializes in U.S. affairs. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

There is something profoundly absurd about the world's leading democracy periodically switching itself off. Yet here we are again. Since Wednesday, the United States government has been shut down – its lights dimmed, its workers sent home, its institutions paralyzed – because its political class could not agree on how to fund the very government they claim to serve.

It is the first shutdown in nearly seven years, but the spectacle is grimly familiar. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are furloughed without pay. National parks are closed, housing loans are delayed, and small businesses are left without permits. Even the publication of basic economic data has halted, leaving policymakers and markets flying blind. Once more, the American people are paying for the privilege of their leaders' incompetence.

In the United States, such impasses have become a perverse ritual. There have been more than ten government shutdowns since 1976. Donald Trump, true to form, holds the record for the longest one – which lasted 35 days. 

The human cost of these theatrics is real. As many as 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed and many others are working without pay or live pay cheque to pay cheque. Contractors – cleaners, caterers, security staff – will never see lost wages returned. Others deemed essential must keep working, unpaid, until politicians tire of their impasse. Behind every statistic lies a family calculating how to cover rent, childcare, or groceries.

And beyond those families lies the economy itself. The U.S. could lose $15 billion of its growth domestic product each week the shutdown extends. For a country that lectures others on fiscal responsibility, America's recurring self-sabotage borders on parody.

And rightly so. Abroad, one witnesses the most recent shutdown with bewilderment. Most developed nations possess mechanisms that prevent such paralysis; only in Washington can the government run out of money because its politicians prefer slogans to solutions. The republic that once embodied orderly self-government now resembles a reality show with the world's reserve currency attached.

Perhaps the greatest casualty, however, is not economic but civic. Every shutdown deepens the public's alienation from politics. To ordinary Americans, these episodes are not constitutional dramas but acts of contempt – evidence that Washington's elites treat governance as a game and citizens as collateral.

They watch Congress bicker and pose for cameras while their pay is withheld. Is it any wonder trust in government has fallen to historic lows? A democracy cannot long endure when its citizens regard their institutions with indifference or disgust.

The tragedy of modern American politics is not merely polarization but frivolity. The founders built a system designed for argument, not anarchy. Disagreement is a feature; paralysis is not. To use a shutdown as a political weapon is to turn self-government into self-harm.

When Ronald Reagan,  40th U.S. President, faced similar budget showdowns, he struck deals by the weekend. When Bill Clinton, 42nd U.S. President, did in 1995, he met the opposition halfway. They understood a simple truth: Governing is not about winning the day's news cycle but preserving the nation's continuity.

And this latest shutdown is yet another reminder to the world that America's divisions have become so toxic that even basic administration is hostage to them.

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