The debt deal's biggest losers

America's commitment to national security — and to our own poor, unemployed, and sick — should be called into question after this puzzling deal

Here at TheWeek.com, Ed Morrissey challenged Tea Party Republicans to recognize that they won the debt-ceiling standoff. He's right, too. But if some win, others must lose. Can we identify the losers? I see three.

The first and most obvious loser: National security.

The economist Herb Stein used to advocate a simple model of federal budgeting:

a) Decide how much it costs to defend the country.

b) Pay for it.

c) Then see what else you can afford.

Adam Smith phrased the same idea more elegantly by saying that "defense is superior to opulence." The point is that the defense of the nation is not just another line item. It's the first obligation of government, more important than any other form of spending, and way more important than minimizing taxes.

For today's Republican Party, the defense of the nation is at best a secondary priority.

Yet this budget deal treats defense as just another special interest. Worst is the enforcement mechanism for the deal: If spending targets are not met, the deal subjects Medicare and Medicaid to automatic cuts (presumably to punish Democrats) and subjects defense to cuts (presumably to punish Republicans). The enforcement mechanism could have included new taxes, but defense was substituted to clinch the deal. That way Republicans get to tell their Tea Party base that the deal contains no tax increases. But the substitution also reveals that for today's Republican Party, the defense of the nation is at best a secondary priority.

The next loser: American political stability and financial credit.

The debt-ceiling debate feels like one of those tragic episodes out of the history of the fall of republics. To gain their point on a budget matter, Republicans did something unprecedented in the annals of American government. They made a bargaining chip out of the public credit of the United States. In a well-functioning democracy, certain threats are just not used, and the threat to force the country into default should rank high on the list of unacceptable threats.

Yet congressional Republicans not only issued the threat, they did so successfully. They have changed the rules of the game in ways that will have ramifications for a long time. Maybe Democrats will copy them. Or maybe Republicans will do it again. Either way, something that was once unthinkable has become thinkable. Any holder of U.S. government bonds has to feel a little less confident of the security of his or her investment after this summer's debt-ceiling episode.