Tensions were running high on Friday as Congress was still in a stalemate and the hours drew nearer to the deadline that would result in a government shutdown. Domestically the shutdown would have been a terrible experience, which would have resulted in, for example, national parks and the Smithsonian’s closing. Though there was a silver lining in that restaurants were advertising discounts or Z-Burger said they would be offering free burgers to all government employees. That aside the government shutdown would have reached beyond our borders. It would have meant that embassies and consulates were closed and all programs and events that were planned would not be allowed to go on, which would have been awful PD for the United States. What example would we have been setting for the rest of the world? When we try to export democracy and try to be the shining city upon the hill, it is contradictory when we cannot even pass our own budget. It would have been detrimental to our PD efforts if everything would have had to been stopped, no programs or embassy services, American centers closed, it would have looked very bad.
Congress pulled through at the eleventh hour with a proposed compromise and passed a continuing resolution that would keep our government funded for a little bit longer. If there was a shutdown, I think this would have hurt the credibility of our PD because we are promoting ideals and trying to portray a stable image of our country to the world, but then in the case of the shutdown, it would have contradicted all of these things. It would have hurt our image as a nation and negatively impacted our PD efforts, but also our image to foreign visitors who would not have been able to visit the Smithsonian’s or would have been shut out from seeing something like the Grand Canyon. Luckily, this did not occur, but it is interesting that something that seems it would only cause problems domestically actually has a much farther reaching impact zone.
