"Think about what you are asking:
Close 1/2 the police stations.
Close 1/2 the fire stations.
Close 1/2 the post offices.
Close 1/2 the control towers in airports
Close 1/2 the Dept. of Transportation offices so 1/2 the snow plowing.
Thsi is just for starters."
Since I live in Houston area, I can say that recent events here would indicate that the HPD actually does about half of the work that they are sworn to do. The department has a complete "hands off" policy where it involves illegal aliens, which does wonders for the local crime rate. They have also adopted a "no chase" policy for those folks that want to run from the law. Had a nice accident just the other day where some gomer slammed his car into another that was occupied by a family of 3, including a small baby that, Thank God, wasn't horribly injured.
Primarily, I was referring to those agencies that would normally be considered to be "non-essential" services. A good reference point would be to consult your copy of the United States Constitution (Article X) for those areas that the federal government is authorized to operate in.
I hope this helps.
Irrelevant. The Commerce Clause covers absolutely everything. It gives the government the power to regulate anything and everything. All it takes is a lawyer/politician to make any regulation happen with the right language so as to get by the SCOTUS.