Would you notice it if you were without a de facto government for, say, oh about 250 days!

Honestly, probably not. Aside from a possible reduction in the quality of The Daily Show (given a reduction in people saying/stupid things) it would hardly affect our daily lives. Of course… if we were to get attacked at some point….

P.S. I’m saying this from an American point of view. We don’t have this “form a government” concept in the US political system. Still, I doubt the Belgian government affects the daily lives of most people.

Notice? Yes. However, I wouldn’t mind them all taking a 250 day (unpaid) vacation.

That seems like a long time. What about if your (U. S.) government simply shuts down for a few weeks? Supposedly that has happened in the U. S. at least once before, and may be happening again. Unfortunately, the salaries keep on being paid at the top levels, only the services to the taxpayers stops.

Without Chicken Little pronouncements from such pseudo-news outlets as Fox gnus Network, probably not.

Would the prison guards still be paid or would they just open up all of the prison doors? Would the teachers, police, firemen, snow removal, city power/water/gas still be run? Would there be protection from people breaking into nuclear power plants? Would there be people preventing mob rule and the tyranny of the majority? What about the air-traffic controllers, and the FAA keeping the skies safe, and enforcing regulations that keep planes in good condition to fly? Would someone at the FDA still be making sure new medications are safe and effective for people to use? would they be there to ban an existing drug if it turned out that there was a newly discovered problem with it? Would someone still be testing our food and water to insure it’s up to par? What about customs agents that prevent people from smuggling in nonnative species that can decimate local ecosystems? Would there still be funding for research? Would government loans still be handed out or would kids who need them to pay for school be forced to seek work at the nearest Wal-Mart? I could go on…

Yes. If something serious happens. Suppose Al-Qaeda flies 10 airplanes into 10 buildings in Brussels. I would be good to have a government.

Otherwise, we should not underestimate the work of governments. Every citizen will feel negative effects mid-term if governments don’t perform well. In Western democracies we seem to take everything for granted, and would only notice when things don’t work. Let’s take Egypt as an example. The purpose of the fallen regime was to get rich. So some dozens of corrupt people became billionaires or millionaires. But the country isn’t prepared for the future. Academics have to sell fruit. Computer outsourcing is done in Bangalore not in Alexandria. Cutting edge research happens in Israel but not in Egypt, even though the latter country has 10 times more people.

Ergo: The Egyptians will notice once they get a real government interested in the prosperity of every citizen.

So we should not belittle the role of governments.

@gorillapaws

Unfortunately (or fortunately) most of what your complaining about is handled locally or is not part of the appropriations process. It gets funded whether congress approves or not. Taxes don’t stop nor do the traffic controllers. That doomsday scenario just wouldn’t materialize.

@Jaxk I was just trying to clarify the question. If we had full-on anarchy for 250 days, my response would probably be different than if the Judiciary, Executive and Legislative took an extended vacation for most of the year.

@gorillapaws

Just trying to point out that if Washington DC went away, the federal government (which is what is happening in Belgium) has those bases covered. The IRS would still be collecting taxes and the TSA would still be ogling your undies. Not to worry.

I didn’t particularly notice it when Newt Gingrich shut it down in 1994, but then again, I was just a college student. It might have been different if I was actually in the real world at the time. :-)

@Dr_Dredd

Actually I was in the real world (a little haze not withstanding) and I didn’t notice it either.