The fact of the matter is that there is large contingent of House Republicans who (1) don't think that a default is that bad and (2) are therefore willing to use the threat of default as a hammer to extort the county into accepting their agenda. So, in the end, we need to choose between default or democracy.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/here-are-the-gops-debt-ceiling-demands-and-they-are-insane/280012/
In 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling. How is that any different than what the Republican Party is doing today? people all over cable news keep asking.
This is how. Obama's vote was a silly symbolic vote that had no consequence, but, crucially, it was also supposed to be a silly symbolic vote that had no consequence. Like many minority parties before them, Democrats used the debt ceiling to make a stink about fiscal policy, but they didn't try to hold the White House—or the international financial community—hostage.
This time is different. National Review snags the details of the House's debt-ceiling demands, and once you get through them, you'll be surprised they didn't ask for free ice cream, a lifetime pass to Disneyland, and a bill to rename the capitol "The Reagan Dome."
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