Governing in a democracy is about compromise, and the shutdowns are a result of misaligned incentives leading to a failure to compromise. In a shutdown, everyon

Governing in a democracy is about compromise, and the shutdowns are a result of misaligned incentives leading to a failure to compromise. In a shutdown, everyone in the legislative and executive branch is essentially committing a mass act of "they can't arrest us all!" malfeasance in office, there are no bystanders.