This is an opinion column.

Spite is driving America once again towards either another government shutdown or more profligate spending. Congress fails to meet its most basic responsibility of funding the government because our representatives are playing petty political games. Instead of holding them accountable, we’re clapping for our respective parties and politicians. Nobody has clean hands, so we might as well be honest about the current state of affairs.

I won’t bore you with the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 other than to say that Congress has a clear process for setting the federal budget and appropriating funds. Neither party particularly enjoys or uses that process. It requires work, focus, and quite a few votes in committees and on the House and Senate floor.

Another fact is that Congress also blew money out the door during the COVID-19 pandemic far in excess of the normal spending trajectory. Returning spending to pre-pandemic levels isn’t “extreme;” it’s a necessary dose of common sense. Unfortunately, our political class isn’t particularly interested in taking that seriously.

Our leaders would much rather spend time venting their spleens on cable news than grinding through legislative spending language. Most of it isn’t particularly controversial. It’s a choice between different programs and funding levels. Instead of working together and reaching consensus through votes, many of our representatives just say, “No.”

It’s a lazy path. If a member of Congress doesn’t get what she wants, she just votes against it. She doesn’t even have to do the work of offering an alternative. Our current practice is no different than trying to feed mashed peas to a baby. They close their mouths, and the process grinds to a halt. Nobody actually expects the baby to offer nutritional alternatives.

That’s why Congress only has certain enumerated powers in the Constitution. Achieving affirmative consensus is difficult. It becomes insanely challenging when we don’t even try to work with our political opposition.

Before we ever talk about getting legislation through the Senate, let’s do the math in the House. Republicans hold 221 seats, Democrats have 212, and two seats are currently open.

To advance any spending bill, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) needs a simple majority of the votes cast. McCarthy must essentially keep all Republicans on board or go to Democrats for votes.

At the moment, a few Republicans are willing to thwart major spending legislation, and Democrats are perfectly fine with them calling the shots. Democrats have no intention of finding common ground. If they did, Democratic members in politically challenging districts would vote to move McCarthy’s spending measures. The Democrat-controlled Senate will undoubtedly strip any particularly offensive components out before a final vote on passage. If the Democratic priority was indeed funding the government and avoiding a shutdown, a small cohort of Democrats could negate the votes of dissenting Republicans with little political pain.

Reasonable Democrats are better off voting for a spending measure they don’t like than being run over by a bill with concessions to someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) that they will undoubtedly hate. Democratic rhetoric about opposing “extremism” runs painfully hollow when they intentionally refuse to work with Republicans to do anything about it.

All the sound and fury in Washington over the looming government shutdown is nothing more than fiscal performance art. Any shutdown will be relatively brief, the government will ultimately be funded, and employees out of work will almost certainly receive back pay. Any fiscal restraint imposed as a result will be marginal at best. If Americans truly want fiscal sanity, we’d send a lot more rock-ribbed budget hawks to Congress.

Meanwhile, Republicans are threatening to punch themselves in the face if McCarthy so much as tries to ask Democrats for help. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) intends to force a vote on vacating McCarthy’s speakership if he passes a continuing resolution to fund the government.

The only outcome Democrats would enjoy more than killing a few spending bills is shutting down the Republican-led House entirely. All it would take is six Republicans joining the 212 Democrats to force McCarthy out.

That might sound like a plan to the 20-or-so members who challenged McCarthy’s bid for Speaker, but hell would freeze over before the rest of the Republican conference rallies around someone like Gaetz as a replacement.

Who is someone more conservative, trusted, and capable of securing 218 Republican votes? After the last 15 rounds to land on McCarthy, he legitimately might be as conservative as current House Republicans are willing to go. Even if someone else managed to secure the Speaker’s gavel, we’re right back in the same scenario of figuring out how to fund the government.

If members of Congress aren’t willing to stop the theatrics within the House and Senate to fund the government and tackle other important issues, we shouldn’t wonder why they resemble a bunch of babies refusing to eat their peas and crying loudly about it.

More Cameron Smith columns:

Smith is a recovering political attorney with four boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. He’s a partner in Triptych Media, a business strategy wonk, and a regular on talk radio. Please direct outrage or agreement to [email protected] or @DCameronSmith on Twitter.