[mulmen]

> And they all in congress should be fired for job abandonment. And yes, rerun elections, with those idiots not allowed to run.

I find these takes very tiresome. What kind of insight can you draw from this all or nothing thinking? It’s reductive and uninteresting.

Not all elected representatives are refusing to work. Collective punishment creates an opportunity for bad actors to force an election and remove their colleagues from office.

> After all, when I look at my W2 (yeah, I'm a working stiff), they sure as hell are taking out taxes still. That aint "shut down". It's a scam.

Well yeah, of course they are. You still owe taxes. When the government reopens the taxes you pay will still be allocated.

> Something about "taxation without representation". I think we went to war over that before.

This is not what was meant by taxation without representation. We do have elected representation, even in a government shutdown. Congress refusing to work is not a consequence of the government shutdown, it is a political choice made by elected representatives.

[thunky]

> Well yeah, of course they are. You still owe taxes. When the government reopens the taxes you pay will still be allocated.

I think you missed the point. If the government is doing less due to shutdown, taxes should be less.

[mulmen]

I didn't miss the point. The point doesn't hold up to scrutiny. The system you propose would create a perverse incentive for obstructionists to shut government down permanently to never pay taxes.

[thunky]

> a perverse incentive for obstructionists to shut government

That doesn't make any sense. A politically manufactured government shutdown isn't the only way to reduce government or taxes.

But regardless, fear of poor incentives hasn't stopped us from getting to where we are now. Bad incentives are everywhere. This shutdown itself is the result of bad incentives.

Your argument is the one that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.