Column: What if the shutdown were happening in another country?
Editor's note: If the federal government meltdown were happening
in some other country, imagine how it would be described using
the tropes and tone normally employed by the American media to
describe foreign events.    But the pleasant autumn weather
disguises a government teetering on the brink. Because, at
midnight Monday night, the government of this intensely proud
and nationalistic people shut down, a drastic sign of political
dysfunction in this moribund republic.  The capital's rival
clans find themselves at an impasse, unable to agree on a
measure that will allow the American state to carry out its most
basic functions. While the factions have come close to such a
shutdown before, opponents of President Barack Obama's embattled
regime allowed the government to be shuttered over opposition to
a controversial plan intended to bring the nation's health care
system in line with international standards.    When only a few
hours remained befor