STAFF ED: Debt ceiling debacle demonstrates political hijinks accomplish nothing

A week ago, the country seemed ready to crack under the pressure of the impending debt ceiling crisis. Whenever the word "armageddon" starts getting thrown around on serious news programs, you know an issue is really super-duper serious. Likewise, now that a deal of some sort has been passed (though America could not dodge a downgraded credit rating after all), voices on both sides of the aisle and of the public debate have bemoaned it. This is probably a very good sign too — if for no other reason than if everyone is complaining, then no one's agenda was fully realized.

The problem still remains, however, that the debt "crisis" was a manufactured issue. For an item that has been voted on more than 100 times in its history, the debt ceiling and its intricacies were fairly unfamiliar to the public at large when voices started rising at the outset of the debacle. Most times, ceiling adjustments are passed without controversy.

Yet this time, Congress (which the public must now see as some Snidely Whiplash villain) drew out the debate until the 11th hour... to what end? Was it some attempt to torpedo our current president's political capital? A grandstanding distraction? A bona fide ideological last stand? Who profits from "armageddon"?

Regardless of the answers to any of these questions, it should be clear to Americans now (as it is apparently clear to many of our peers around the world) that such political hijinks cannot continue. This is a country based on the principle of compromise; we wouldn't have survived as a nation without negotiations and caveats, no matter how ugly. But the polarization which characterizes modern Washington needs to end. Perhaps it will, once the Republican Party gets over its mutliple personality disorder or once the Democratic Party grows something resembling a progressive backbone. Perhaps not.

Either way, if you're unhappy with the way things are going poltically in this country, the time has never been better to look for ways to get involved. From caucusing to volunteering to running for some low public office, or maybe just leaving a voicemail with your elected officials. It might sound cheesy, but now is the time to speak for the future of the country.

opinion@dailynebraskan.com