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The founding fathers were very keen on keeping all three branches under control using each other. It can get messy. But this idea comes from the UK, back when P

The founding fathers were very keen on keeping all three branches under control using each other. It can get messy. But this idea comes from the UK, back when Parliament was a means of balancing the power of the King: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse In the case of the US it's put into place so the Executive Branch cannot wield too much power. Sometimes a lot of power is good. But quite often throughout history, too much power makes it ripe for abuse. Usually what happens is they come to an agreement but this time, like a few times in the past, they didn't come to one before the government would furlough non-essential staff members. It's ugly, but it's a work in progress. Since we have a purely representative form of democracy the best the American citizen can do is vote for new Representatives, Senators, Judges (sometimes), and Presidents. Oh and of course YELL FROM THE ROOFTOPS :D

moocowduckquack 13y ago
Yes, but surely there are ways of achieving the same thing without laying off the people who write the army wage checks, for example. Whatever your views on the use of armed force, I think we can all agree that paying the people with the guns on time is generally considered a good move. And shutting down a large section of their own economy in the middle of a financial crisis is just beyond insane. Why can't they sign the budgets 6 months ahead, or something.
- mikeash 13y ago
  Because signing a budget six months ahead of time would require compromise and forward thinking, both things that the current Congress lacks. A lot of legislators are basically forbidden to compromise, either due to their principles, or because they will lose their next election if they do because they come from a district full of extremists. Or, generally, both. (The one tends to cause the other, of course.) If you can't compromise, it doesn't matter when you start talking. You'll never work out a deal until you're forced to.
- ianstallings 13y ago
  The military will get paid during this particular shutdown, and the military will continue to function as it always does. A lot of essential workers, determined by the government, will still come to work and get paid.
mikeash 13y ago
Most of us can't really affect it by voting, though. This current shutdown is precipitated by a hyper-partisan group of legislators who think "compromise" is a dirty word who are generally elected from districts full of like-minded people. We are being hijacked by a relatively small minority. If the House properly represented the people, it would have a majority that would pass the Senate bill. If the House had its current makeup but could actually vote on the Senate bill, rather than only voting on bills approved by a majority of the majority party, the Senate bill would pass. Instead, because the rules conspire to make it so that you have to please at least half of the legislators from a party that got a minority of the vote, we get jerked around by people who mostly do not represent us, both in terms of sharing our values, and in the more direct term of being someone we voted for or against. This is not a consequence of representative democracy, it is a failure of it.
- ianstallings 13y ago
  I'd rather not talk about politics here. Edit: Wait, so I can't even avoid a topic without being down voted? Thanks guys. What I mean by that, since I can't reply below, is that I don't want to get partisan. I don't want to assign blame. I'd rather talk about the structure and how it could be improved. Politics and government can be talked about separately.
  - mikeash 13y ago
    I'm confused. What exactly is this entire thread, an your previous comment in particular, about?
    - ianstallings 13y ago
      My post was about government and its structure. How the three branches balance each other and why Congress votes on the budget. The way the system works, I was trying to point it out. That's all. And this thread is about how intelligence agencies will be impacted. I posted on that under the main thread.
      - 13y ago

moocowduckquack 13y ago

Yes, but surely there are ways of achieving the same thing without laying off the people who write the army wage checks, for example. Whatever your views on the use of armed force, I think we can all agree that paying the people with the guns on time is generally considered a good move. And shutting down a large section of their own economy in the middle of a financial crisis is just beyond insane. Why can't they sign the budgets 6 months ahead, or something.

mikeash 13y ago
Because signing a budget six months ahead of time would require compromise and forward thinking, both things that the current Congress lacks. A lot of legislators are basically forbidden to compromise, either due to their principles, or because they will lose their next election if they do because they come from a district full of extremists. Or, generally, both. (The one tends to cause the other, of course.) If you can't compromise, it doesn't matter when you start talking. You'll never work out a deal until you're forced to.
ianstallings 13y ago
The military will get paid during this particular shutdown, and the military will continue to function as it always does. A lot of essential workers, determined by the government, will still come to work and get paid.

mikeash 13y ago

Most of us can't really affect it by voting, though. This current shutdown is precipitated by a hyper-partisan group of legislators who think "compromise" is a dirty word who are generally elected from districts full of like-minded people. We are being hijacked by a relatively small minority. If the House properly represented the people, it would have a majority that would pass the Senate bill. If the House had its current makeup but could actually vote on the Senate bill, rather than only voting on bills approved by a majority of the majority party, the Senate bill would pass. Instead, because the rules conspire to make it so that you have to please at least half of the legislators from a party that got a minority of the vote, we get jerked around by people who mostly do not represent us, both in terms of sharing our values, and in the more direct term of being someone we voted for or against. This is not a consequence of representative democracy, it is a failure of it.

ianstallings 13y ago
I'd rather not talk about politics here. Edit: Wait, so I can't even avoid a topic without being down voted? Thanks guys. What I mean by that, since I can't reply below, is that I don't want to get partisan. I don't want to assign blame. I'd rather talk about the structure and how it could be improved. Politics and government can be talked about separately.
- mikeash 13y ago
  I'm confused. What exactly is this entire thread, an your previous comment in particular, about?
  - ianstallings 13y ago
    My post was about government and its structure. How the three branches balance each other and why Congress votes on the budget. The way the system works, I was trying to point it out. That's all. And this thread is about how intelligence agencies will be impacted. I posted on that under the main thread.
    - 13y ago