This person has painful feet, which only get worse. They have three ways to reduce their aching feet.

They could get a new pair of shoes, uncomfortable until broken in, but with a good fit afterwards. Or they can hop on one foot, leaving only one foot in pain. Or they can jump off a cliff and have no pain until they land, whenever that will happen.

The name of this person is America. And the painful problem arises, not from shoes, but from the U.S. government always spending more money than it takes in. Its hurtful budget habit is a symptom of a national illness that has infected the entire political system. America’s government could get new shoes any day, but it doesn’t, because its paralyzed.

The annual deficit is about six percent of the entire value of the national economy. Deficits in annual spending accumulate into the national debt that now equals the production of the entire economy. Obviously, this cannot go on endlessly.

The new pair of shoes would take the form of a balanced budget, financed by debt to pay for long-term purchases and taxes, including increases when necessary, to pay for current operations. Increasing taxes might be uncomfortable for a while, but it would reduce the pain before the debt kills the economy or cripples future generations.

Hopping on one foot happens when the government relies only on debt, while trying to cut spending and hoping to cut taxes. But hoping and hopping get harder as the costs of new promises mount. America gets a bit wobbly on its feet.

Or America can neither cut costs nor raise taxes. It simply jumps off the cliff, spending and borrowing with its eyes closed, not thinking about the hard landing.

The budget bill passed just in time to avoid a government shutdown is a clear case of jumping off the cliff. It kept the government running by extending an earlier budget, some of it wasteful and poorly aligned with current needs. Seemingly do-good items like emergency aid and farm funding were tacked on.

By preventing a government shutdown, the bill has been celebrated as a bipartisan legislative success. It passed mainly because neither party wanted the blame for closing the government. In reality, it is a policy failure, because the two sides could not reach any agreement on a normal budget, the most basic function of Congress.

The entire process revealed that most in Congress did not get the message of the election. People don’t respect Congress, because it ignores their concerns in favor of playing its usual political games. More House Democrats than Republicans were needed to support the GOP Speaker’s budget deal, revealing how badly Washington is working.

The original bill and the final version were Christmas trees, decorated with goodies for both parties. Instead of understanding that voters prefer a practical government over one that uses debt without discipline, Congress continues to believe that the best solution is to throw money at any problem. No wonder it’s not popular.

In effect, many voters have decided that the federal government has moved on from New Deal-style government to at least a partial return to more traditional American conservatism. The business-as-usual of the past nine decades should be updated. But its handling of the budget bill shows that Congress won’t change.

The Democrats, as busy as the Republicans in adding tinsel to the tree, missed a great opportunity. They could have promptly agreed with President-elect Trump (and Elon Musk, apparently his prime minister) on a bare extension of spending with no add-ons. Where would that have left the House GOP? Any added spending would have been passed in a new bill.

Instead, the Democrats blocked Trump’s demand to raise the debt limit, believing a higher cap would permit him to extend and even increase current tax cuts. They wanted the GOP to accept full responsibility for piling on more debt. The debt cap was not in the final bill.

In reality, many Democrats, Trump and some Republicans agree that the debt ceiling is nothing more than an attention-grabbing tool to be used in budget negotiations. Only hardline Republicans seem willing to push the U.S. into default, if that’s what it takes to reduce spending.

The debt ceiling could be a clear violation of the Fourteenth Amendment requiring the federal government to make good on the borrowing arising from its spending commitments. This would have been the moment to kill this troublesome financial gimmick.

Trump’s grandstanding and hostile behavior, the unrealistic Democratic hopes of restoring the old ways and the mindless Republican warfare against compromise come at a price. They lead Washington to ignore popular demands for a well-functioning government that produces practical results.

The federal budget fiasco just proved that.

Gordon L. Weil formerly wrote for the Washington Post and other newspapers, served on the U.S. Senate and EU staffs, headed Maine state agencies and was a Harpswell selectman.