Fear will snap those voters back in place.

I used McArdle’s list to make a different point. I suggest you go back and read her entire post. It’s actually quite reasonable.

Also, Dr. T, it’s perfectly possible that the US Government is simultaneously to big to fail and too big to survive. In fact, I believe that’s the case.

The activities of a failed federal government could either cease (TSA, DEA, ATF, Dept. of Education, and HHS are good examples) or get transferred to state governments, local governments, private corporations, and citizens.

The assets of a failed federal government could be purchased by state governments, local governments, corporations, or citizens. The proceeds would pay off creditors. Extra monies could be distributed to taxpayers (the equivalent of corporate shareholders) based on their average federal tax payments over the previous three years.

When can we start?

I want to see pretty much all of the changes you mention… But “flipping the switch” on those changes is going to generate so much pain that the voters will see to it quickly that it turns around. And they’re going to place the blame squarely on Republicans, elect a bunch more Democrats, and (while I’m no fan of Republicans) we’ll end up with worse than what we even have now.

It took 100 years to put together the progressive liberal society of the US, we need at least a few decades to walk it back. McArdle made that point in the original post — even if you think these programs SHOULD go away, trying to do it all at once is going to create so much backlash that it can’t be done.

Come to think of it, McArdle has come up with a pretty good list of why the government should fail. It already has.

Failure is such a harsh word. Really, they just responded to the incentives of those in power while hurting the rest of us. And they responded well indeed. So really, everything you cite is a smashing success!

“The TSA shuts down. Yay! But don’t worry about terrorist attacks, you TSA-lovers, because air traffic control shut down too. Hope you don’t have a vacation planned in August, much less any work travel.”
25,000 security violations later and granny gets her diaper checked. Bang up job you’re doing there. Besides, the 4th Amendment is just so antiquated.

“Unemployment money is no longer going to the states, which means that pretty so, it won’t be going to the unemployed people.”
Paging Mr. Madison again.

Come to think of it, McArdle has come up with a pretty good list of why the government should fail. It already has.

“Our embassies are no longer operating, which will make things difficult for foreign travellers.”
The only one I can’t think of a snarky response to.

“No federal emergency assistance, or help fighting things like wildfires or floods. Sorry, tornado people! Sorry, wildfire victims! Try to live in the northeast next time!
Housing projects shut down, and Section 8 vouchers are not paid. Families hit the streets.
The money your local school district was expecting at the October 1 commencement of the 2012 fiscal year does not materialize, making it unclear who’s going to be teaching your kids without a special property tax assessment.
The market for guaranteed student loans plunges into chaos. Hope your kid wasn’t going to college this year!
The mortgage market evaporates. Hope you didn’t need to buy or sell a house!”
James Madison summed these up nicely with, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”

“The doors of federal prisons have been thrown open, because none of the guards will work without being paid, and the vendors will not deliver food, medical supplies, electricity,etc.”
Maybe if the government didn’t criminalize so much then the federal prison system would be a lot smaller. Especially the failed war on some drugs. Again, decriminalization of all manner of things would make the federal prison system smaller and cheaper.

“The border control stations are entirely unmanned, so anyone who can buy a plane ticket, or stroll across the Mexican border, is entering the country. All the illegal immigrants currently in detention are released, since we don’t have the money to put them on a plane, and we cannot actually simply leave them in a cell without electricity, sanitation, or food to see what happens.”
I especially love this one. Ya know, having the border control stations manned has only resulted in what, 12 million or so illegal immigrants? If the government shuts down it won’t be able to do something it sucks at. Get me the world’s smallest violin for this complaint.