It’s fashionable to call the current federal government shutdown a “crisis,” to focus on the missed paychecks, delayed services and bureaucratic disarray. But what if this standoff — this uncomfortable pause in government business — is exactly what the country needs right now? What if the dysfunction is finally forcing Washington, and all of us, to look in the mirror?

For too long, both parties have governed as if the laws of arithmetic didn’t apply to them. Year after year, Congresses controlled by Republicans and Democrats alike have voted for budgets that plunge us deeper into debt — now a staggering $38 trillion and counting. Each year, we add another $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in deficits. These aren’t emergency measures or wartime expenses. They’re routine shortfalls — ordinary ov

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