One day in 1980, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti tapped out a quick four-page memo to President Jimmy Carter that has cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, damaged the economy to the tune of billions of dollars and undermined faith in democratic institutions.
The memo was meant to clarify what happens when Congress fails to pass a spending bill. Instead, it accidentally created the modern government shutdown, a problem that has bedeviled American politics in the decades since, especially over the last 43 days.
Like the president he served, Civiletti was a thoughtful, hard-working man who meant well. But in this case, he was dead wrong, and it's long past time to fix his mistake. Now that the longest-running government shutdown is finally over, we should all agree never to do this again.
This is a preview of Ryan Teague Beckwith's latest column. Read the full column here.
