Joseph,
“A quarter of the government has been closed for almost a month and life goes on.”
You do realize that more than half of the workforce in the closed government agencies are continuing to work every day with no pay, right? Most businesses can go on for a short while half staffed and still do the essential functions to keep afloat, for example during the non-Jewish holiday season, but that won’t work long term. And eventually the staff will get upset about the missing paychecks. FTA and DHS employees continue to work so the airports stay open. FDA and USDA inspectors are still make sure the food and drug supplies are safe, and NWS employees continue to issue weather warnings.