All this talk about the government shutdown this week has had me thinking about Belgium. Yes, Belgium. Why? Because in June 2010, Belgium had an election. But their system is such that, as in many countries, the formation of an actual government after an election requires different parties to work together to create some sort of coalition. Belgium was unable to do that and so, until December 2011, they were government-less. And you know what? They were just fine.
Seems I’m not the only one who’s been thinking about Belgium. Sarah Jean Seman wrote about it here. There may even have been some advantages for Belgium to being without a government in terms of lower spending.
I’m not suggesting that we should try to break the record. I’d prefer to get this whole thing resolved in less than a year and a half. But I also figure that, if the Belgians survived that long, we probably don’t need to panic just yet. It turns out people can actually survive without the federal government doing quite so much.
