Government shutdown

Republican Representative Westmoreland has suggested that if the Republicans gain control of the House, they could decide to confront the President and his programs by threatening to simply refuse to fund them, leading to a complete shutdown. Gingrich did this in 1995, but backed down fairly quickly. It would be interesting if this were done again, and more seriously. The issue becomes one of who is in charge, the House or the President and his executive branch. In this case the Senate would be powerless, since they would not have anything to obstruct. If the House were able to force the President to back down and follow the direction of the House, this would ultimately be good for the country. The House would acquire more authority. If it followed up by reorganizing itself to assert that authority consistently over time, it would produce a revolutionary change in the way the government operates, the kind of change I would like to see. The President would become subordinate to the House leadership. The Senate would still be a problem when the House gets around to positive legislation, rather than just opposing the President, but the Senate could be taken care of. It would be a step for which there would be no turning back, once it is done. It would be equivalent to the revolt of the British Parliament against Charles II in 1688, where the King was definitively subordinated to Parliament. The leader of the House majority would become effectively a Prime Minister.

Again, such an event would be very interesting.