Shutdowns have terribly little to do with the Constitution or Founding Fratboys. They're mostly the result of the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (and then repealing the "Gephardt rule" in 1995).

Having a debt ceiling is idiotic. Congress passes a budget to decide what to spend, so why would they need to pass another bill to fund the spending they already passed? Literally, the answer to that is "So they can shut down the government."

This isn't an issue of "the power of the purse" or checks and balances. It's political grandstanding. Republicans are determined to break the country.

I mean, the main failsafes we have in Canada are pretty simple.

First, there is no debt calling. Once a budget is passed it remains in effect until a new budget is passed. Government departments are funded until specific actions are taken to make them not be funded.

Second, and this is the main one; budgets are considered confidence votes. That means if you ever fail to pass one, you're done. Hand over the keys to country, you don't get to drive it anymore. Either the opposition forms a government if they're united enough to do so, or we go to the polls and elect a new one.

The first part means that during this process the basic mechanisms of state all continue to function. No one misses a paycheck. It can be annoying having to go to the polls again, maybe a few times in a row even if political deadlock is particularly bad, but ultimately its the voters who get to decide the outcome, not the politicians.

Anyway, thanks for the detailed answer.

Is that a bad way to keep a country going? Probably

You know I said something like this to my therapist once. I ended up with a lot therapy in a short amount of time