Congress is threatening another "government shutdown" as the September 30 deadline approaches. But here's what most Americans don't understand: Government has never shut down. Not once.

What people call "shutdowns" affect only the most visible, least essential services. The actual machinery of government continues operating normally during shutdowns.

Somewhere, at 3 a.m. this morning, USDA food safety inspectors walked into meat processing plants across America. They will examine 37 billion pounds of meat this year — not because politicians told them to do it this week, but because that's what the permanent government does every year. In windowless rooms at the National Weather Service, meteorologists are today analyzing atmospheric data that will determine whether your flight gets delayed tomorrow. At USDA's global intelligence centers, analysts are tracking crop conditions in 95 countries that could affect American food prices months from now. Nuclear engineers are monitoring reactor cooling systems that can't take a day off.

This will all continue going on, regardless of budget negotiations in Congress. This is the government that Americans rarely see but depend on absolutely — and it reveals why the term "government shutdown" is fundamentally misleading.

What actually stops during shutdowns are the visible, public-facing services that make citizens feel the political pain. This includes tourist visits to national parks and the Smithsonian and processing of some permits and applications.

Here's what continues: nuclear reactor monitoring, air traffic control, food safety inspection, disease surveillance, border security, law enforcement, military operations, Social Security payments, Medicare processing, weather forecasting, and thousands of other essential functions.

In terms of shutdown language, “the government” consists of 15 enormous agencies that run the country. The government in this sense is very........

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