I will be honest, when I saw that the United States government had shutdown I wasn't really surprised. I was seeing history play out in the present and, for someone who studied history in school, I became a little excited. It just proved that history is still relevant today because the government of the United States, due to their historical development as a country, was forced to shut down.
The United States government is based on a series of checks and balances. Though Aristotle spoke of the idea in Ancient Greece and the Roman Republic had an example of mixed government it was Baron de Montesquieu, a French political philosopher during the Enlightenment, who brought forth the idea of a "tripartite system."
Within this system there is a focus on three branches of government, which includes Legislative, Judicial, and Executive. Montesquieu promoted his philosophical ideal because in his mind it was just that, ideal. During a time when the French monarchy was overthrown (French Revolution: 1789) the Age of Reason brought forth the idea that all people should be equal, thus, Montesquieu's tripartite system of checks and balances developed from the study of ancient societies.
Within his teachings not one of the branches of government would be superior to another. They would never be able to usurp complete power. Essentially this means Montesquieu's system of checks and balances between the three government branches means that each branch is limited by the other. Each branch has the ability to amend or veto any act of another branch of government, thus, preventing any one branch to have too much power or authority.
Therefore, when the United States Congress (the legislative branch) opposed the Presidential budget (the executive branch) the entirety of the U.S. Government came to a standstill, government was shut down.
This not only has repercussions for the government, but will filter into all aspects of the lives of American citizens. The BBC estimates that the United States' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will drop by 0.9 percent. Though this doesn't sound like a lot, it really is. Last year the United States recorded a GDP of $15,684.8 billion in 2012. Taking 0.9 percent of last year's reported GDP of $15,684.8 billion means a loss of $1,568.48 billion.
Though I've never seen what $1.5 billion looks like, nor can I actually imagine what it looks like, I would assume that it is a considerable loss.
In Canada we also distinguish between branches of government. We do have a separation of powers, however, we make limited use of this separation and it is has been described as more of a "fusion of power." Ultimately our government can reach a stalemate as well, however, if this happens there is still a way to move the government forward. Though we are a democracy, with the Prime Minister as our voted leader, Canada's head of government is still technically the British monarchy.
Therefore, if a stalemate were reached in government the Prime Minister would approach the Queen's representative in Canada, our Governor General, requesting them to dissolve Parliament and call a general election.
Included in this is the safety net of a Special Warrant, which is, in essence, a short-term line of credit. This means that the Government of Canada is still able to access moneys for operation of government funded facilities or jobs if a standoff similar to that of the United States is created between our levels of government.
Therefore, despite many people's dislike of Canada still being tied to the British monarchy it is actually beneficial in the sense that the Canadian Government cannot fall into the same problem of a government shutdown as the United States.
Our parliamentary system in Canada will keep the country running regardless of the issues within government because of our unique ties to Britain unlike Montesquieu's ideal system, which as can be seen within the United States, isn't actually perfect.
