*Opinion on: System on Ice: America’s Recurring Shutdowns Exposed
Here we go again – the government grinds to a halt, and we’re supposed to call it an “oops.”
Furloughed workers, services off the grid, citizens holding their breath while politicians argue.
But this isn’t an error. It’s architecture.
Under the 19th-century Antideficiency Act, no federal dollar can move without Congress’s nod. So whenever lawmakers squabble, the state just shuts off the lights.
In other democracies, government doesn’t stop to protest. In others, essential services carry on despite political stalemates.
Only in America do we treat shutdowns as temporary glitches, when really they are embedded features.
What we call a “crisis” is routine here. A spectacle. A political show.
Meanwhile, regular people pay rent, buy groceries, and wait for the lights to come back on.
The real question isn’t “Who failed?”
It’s “Who designed this failure?”
