Embarrassing - The US Government Shutdown is Embarrassing

It's embarrassing. What is happening right now in our country is embarrassing on the world stage.

Did you know that there's almost no other democratic country in the world with a system where, if our elected leaders can't come together and agree on a compromise, then the whole of the federal government shuts down? In fact, there are some countries where, if a resolution can't proceed, then new elections are held and those representatives get replaced (e.g. Australia).

But no. We have a system where fully paid representatives, elected ADULTS, can decide to throw a hissy fit temper tantrum and decide they will just close everything. And real people will suffer because of it. And the elected representative will have no substantive punishments for this, other than an angrier constituency. With how we do our campaigning, both sides point fingers, and nothing changes.