The longest US federal government shutdown in history is over after 44 days.

It’s not clear what was accomplished by this action. The issue of subsidies for health care payments was not resolved. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers weren’t paid for a month and a half. Many had to take other jobs to meet their day-to-day obligations. The air travel system was thrown into chaos by a severe shortage of air traffic controllers.

All of this was for what? The resolution to this mess is to kick the can down the road and run the same exercise in January again. Meanwhile, members of Congress were paid while their constituents were left out in the cold.

For years, California faced a similar budget crisis almost every year. Budgets were never approved on time and the state was in turmoil. Then, in 2010, a proposition was passed that modified the state constitution so that legislators and their staffs would permanently forfeit pay and expenses for every day a budget was late.

Guess what happened? The state budget has been approved on time every year since.

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that Congress will have the courage and discipline to follow a similar path on the federal level. In the meantime, ordinary people like you and me, as well as hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be impacted by this game of political marksmanship.

It’s too bad our elected representatives refuse to open their eyes to the damage that results from their actions.

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