A proactive approach to government shutdowns

Introduction

As everyone with cable news already knows, the US is currently in the middle of a nominal government shut down. A deal seems to have been reached, but there are still "I"s to dot and "T"s to cross. Knowing nothing about the negotiations, I'm not going to take sides on whether the shutdown should be blamed on the Republican party, the Democratic party, neither, or both. I will say, however, that the shutdown was - by definition - a result of a failure to legislate.

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Now, if you're familiar with the American system of government, then you know that the President is the head of the Executive branch of government. This is the branch charged with executing the laws. In contrast, the Senate - which failed to legislate - is part of the Legislative branch. That branch is charged with legislating or crafting laws. So, regardless of whether the fault for the shutdown lies with Republicans, Democrats, both, or neither, as a matter of logic it seems pretty clear to me that there is no path to lay the blame for this failure to legislate at the feet of the executive branch.

I'm not sure that blame really matters, anyway. Perhaps it's not a very useful question. The question that I'm wondering about now is what do we do about it? Next time?

Fight the next battle, not the last one

I'm not sure if it has to do with my level of political knowledge and engagement, or if something changed in the 1990s, but I don't ever recall a budget impasse that shut down government prior to that decade. In contrast, they have seemed quite frequent since then. Whatever happens this time, I think it's a safe assumption that we're going to see another shutdown in the not too distant future.

So, as a society, we can decide to keep going the way we have been and leave ourselves vulnerable to collateral damage from the warring political tribes or we can start thinking about how to shield our society from their machinations.

There are many libertarians who claim that there are voluntary solutions to most problems, if government would just get out of the way. When a government shutdown happens, that's exactly what the government is doing. So does it make sense to start thinking of ways now so that someone is ready to step-in, fill the gap, and show everyone a better way during the next shutdown?

Possibilities

How would this work? I don't know. I just started thinking about it this morning, but three obvious answers are crowd-funding, insurance, and block chain.

Crowdfunding: Can we start a crowd-funding program now so that we're ready to step in with a voluntary funding mechanism for the services that the crowd determines are vital? Can we be ready to show that voluntary methods are better than coercive methods - in practice, not just in theory - at that decisive moment? Do any programs like this already exist?

Insurance: Can someone set up an insurance program so that workers who are at risk of losing their income during a tribal dust-up can pay for this insurance and receive income when the government turns off the spigot? Maybe this could even link back to a crowdfunding program so that the burden doesn't land entirely on those workers? Do any plans like this already exist?

Block chain: Could a block chain be created with incentives that would somehow smooth out the valleys and hills for people who are dependent on government income and services?

Conclusion

SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
Thomas Paine: Common Sense

It's pretty clear to me that a government shutdown is a failed political strategy, but it also seems to be unavoidable. Fortunately, a government shutdown is not a societal shutdown.

Perhaps, instead of waiting for a moment of crisis, individual members of society should start pursuing ways to mitigate the risk and harm when future shutdowns happen. As noted above, three obvious tools to potentially accomplish this include crowd funding, insurance, and block chain technologies.

What do you think? Is a proactive approach possible for dealing with government shutdowns? What ideas do you have?

As a general rule, I up-vote comments that demonstrate "proof of reading".

Thank you for your time and attention!

Steve Palmer is an IT professional with three decades of professional experience in data communications and information systems. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in computer science, and a master's degree in information systems and technology management. He has been awarded 3 US patents.

Steve is a co-founder of the Steemit's Best Classical Music Facebook page, and the @classical-music steemit curation account.

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