For much of the country, excluding federal employees, the government-shutdown crisis gripping Congress has been a distant battle between politicians indulging in their usual partisan squabbles. No matter who they blame for the shutdown, regular people don’t appear to be that engaged. An Economist-YouGov survey released earlier this week showed about three-fourths of Americans saying the shutdown has affected them “a little” or “not at all.”

That’s about to change. Yes, some effects of the shutdown will gradually manifest themselves, particularly the missed paychecks for federal employees (e.g., active military servicemembers) who haven’t been protected by questionably legal diversion of funds by the Trump administration. But on November 1, assuming (as is wise) that the shutdown doesn’t

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