The sad thing about this entire debt ceiling debate is that both parties are convinced that the public's attention span is so short that we won't remember this come the elections in 2012.  And, given the level of civic engagement that I see as a City Council member, I suspect they're right.

At times like this I quote Will Rogers, the home-grown philosopher from Oklahoma:  "Americans deserve the government they get."  If we're not paying attention, if we vote only by party line, if we support only candidates supported by specific interest groups, we can expect to have more of the same.  If we accede to the lowest common denominator, that's what we'll get. 

If we demand higher quality work and compromise and less partisanship and drama, it'll take a round or two of elections, but we can get it.  But the public has to be paying attention for longer than the next season of "Jersey Shores."

Gotta tell you--I like that quote by Warren Buffett when asked about the need to balance the federal budget.  He said, "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection."

The 3% cushion gives you the room to fund unexpected military action if we find ourselves in a war.  Other than that--we need to live within our means.  States all do it; municipalities and counties have to do it; why should we expect the federal government to be any less responsive?