Government Shutdowns

[Dr Q]

We all agree there is something wrong with a legislative system that shuts down when the parties can't agree on any compromise.  There are some simple solutions, but we may want to keep some of the features of the current system, like the 60% margin to pass new legislation.  The current shutdown over immigration (DACA) and border security (the Trump Wall) is a good starting point for our discussion.  I have tried to have this discussion in a partisan forum, but the useless bickering blocked any productive discussion, and the forum moderator took sides by blocking comments that were respectful and on-topic but contradicted her position.

Let's agree in this non-partisan forum to refrain from unnecessary insults, and keep our comments respectful and on topic.  Here is my take:  The root cause of these shutdown malfunctions is attempts by a minority to pass legislation that cannot pass in a normal vote (repeal Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood, fund the Wall, repeal DACA).  By bundling these unpopular moves with "must pass" legislation, usually unrelated to the controversial issue, the party in control is able to either force passage of the minority position, or score a propaganda victory ("you cut off pay for our troops").

It seems to me the way out of this mess is to separate all the issues in the bundle, and vote on each separately.  Maybe we could have a rule that after 3 days of shutdown, the separation of issues will be done by a bipartisan committee.