By Jake Cohen ’14, Commentary Section Editor

On October 1^st, our generation witnessed its first impactful shutdown of the Federal Government. While it is nothing new for the politicians in Washington, it was a very new situation for students at the Academy. The federal government sent home over 800,000 “non-essential” employees, shutting down National Parks and bringing governmental activity to a bare minimum for sixteen days; the government was (for all intents and purposes) shut down.

While the government was partially shut down, the country faced a potentially catastrophic debt-ceiling crisis. At the same time as the shutdown of the Federal government, the United States came very close to defaulting on its over $16 trillion in debt. Had the US defaulted (not paid back its loans), the economic repercussions would have been drastic. The value of the dollar would have plummeted and confidence in the government would have crashed with it.

So how did it end? How did we get here? Where are we going? These big questions have come out of this shutdown and near-default of our debt. The current solution is an extraordinarily temporary measure that we have seen many times before. Congress passed a Continuing Resolution to temporarily fund the government and delay debt default until February 7^th. As Think Tank and Young Democrats President Jake Faber ’14 puts it, “Congress has yet again delayed the inevitable—at some point they must be held accountable for making a sustainable budget.” We have seen this time and time again: the budget reaches a critical point where there is simply no more money left to be allocated, then Congress argues about solutions, then they pass an 11^th-hour continuing resolution. A continuing resolution is essentially a promise by Congress to solve an issue at a later date—in this case, Congress will be forced to address the debt ceiling before February 7^th.

Of course, this is not the first time Congress has delayed the inevitable, and it certainly will not be the last. Congress has a history of postponing important deliberations and debates, and this most recent example is no different. In 1995, under President Bill Clinton, the government was shut down for 21 days, which was the longest shutdown in US history. Maia Yoshida ’14 says, “while shutdowns are a really big deal, I think they are more of a tactic than a consequence.” Rather than the government shutdown a result of improper governance, lawmakers in Congress seem to consider it much more of a bartering chip or cushion. The attitude seems to be that, worst case, there will be a temporarily inconvenient shutdown of “non-essential” government programs until representatives can get their acts together and solve the problem.

While this is a very inefficient way of solving our problems, is it still effective? Sure, some national parks closed down and some people were sent home, but it was all temporary, right? We have never defaulted on our debt, so Congress must be doing its job, even at the eleventh hour, right? Unfortunately, while these delaying tactics may be great at solving problems in the short term, they bring up larger issues in the long term. The United States has nearly $17 trillion dollars in debt, and this shows no signs of decreasing. The country has been running a deficit almost continuously since the late 1800’s. It seems as if the “kicking the can” attitude of Congress has successfully staved off government failure (much worse than a measly shutdown) and debt default but still has not truly solved our financial woes.

One does not have to look far to see the impact of the government shutdown on our lives at the Academy. The Outdoors Club field trip to Delaware was cancelled, and friends and family were unable to attend work. This shutdown certainly has even more far-reaching implications and can push us to think more critically about the way those who run our nation act. In the end, nobody can truly predict what the fiscal future of the country will look like, but one thing is clear: continuations and constant delay can only go so far, and one day the nation will come to the end of the road and realize it can kick the can no further.