Amazingly, it seems the Republicans really are planning to fight against raising the debt ceiling, which, if they succeed in their obstructionist aims, would have catastrophic consequences.

And there appear to be no adults in charge of the GOP to talk them out of doing grievous harm to the nation. The fear of a black President has driven the entire party insane — even Lindsay Graham: Are There Grown-ups In The Republican Party? Can They Talk Some Sense Into The Party About The Debt Limit?

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,”�Republican Senator Lindsey Graham�announced that he, too, was willing to engage in serious brinkmanship over the debt:

I will not vote for the debt ceiling increase until I see a plan in place that will deal with our long-term debt obligations, starting with Social Security, a real bipartisan effort to make sure that Social Security stays solvent, adjusting the age, looking at means tests for benefits. On the spending side, I’m not going to vote for debt ceiling increase unless we go back to 2008 spending levels, cutting discretionary spending.

As many others have noted, the demand of going back to 2008 spending levels is radical and, not coincidentally, highly unrealistic: According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it’d amount to a one-fifth cut in discretionary spending—forcing cuts that could damage the fragile recovery and starve programs like Pell Grants that most Americans value.�

And the alternative—failing to increase the debt ceiling? What precise effects would that have?