In a depressing show of malfeasance, the Republican Party is holding the federal government at bay by refusing to compromise over their most hated legislation: Obamacare. This ultimatum thinking abound in the capitol that one party must win and one party must lose is utterly reckless and destructive for the entire country.

As a nation, we have become the most split and splintered since just before the Civil War. Our divisiveness has now seeped into the halls of the Rotunda and has rapidly infected the congressional leaders. On both sides of the aisle, the lack of compromise and reconciling differences will damage and harm our country’s image and strength. I can only hope that the next political leaders of the nation are watching and recognizing how not to run a country.

It will only get worse. Year after year, our nation will become more polarized due to the undue influence of money, gerrymandered districts and the rise of the media. When Sheldon Adelson basically funds the entire campaign of Newt Gingrich in 2012, there is a problem. When Republican redistricting made their already bright red districts redder by excluding racially diverse groups and including more tea party members, there is a problem. When Republican and Democratic media universes lash out against moderates and encourage extremist ideology, there is a problem.

Here we are, then, sitting back and observing the hijacking of the federal government by extremist ideology. And as every day progresses, it appears that the government shutdown may last until the Treasury Department hits the debt ceiling limit Oct. 17. At that point the safest asset in the world – U.S. treasury bills and bonds – would default, and the financial systems of the world will be thrown into financial catastrophe. This isn’t a doomsday prophecy, this is the reality: Reports from CEOs the world over indicate increasing daily anxiety about the fated Oct. 17 limit. The mere thought of using the debt ceiling limit as a bargaining chip to change the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is akin to threatening to commit financial suicide for the country.

Morosely, politics in America is now a net-sum game where threatening with ultimatums is the only mean to achieve anything. Somehow, and some way, the United States of America went from being a country built on compromises to a country where if one does not get what one wants, no one else gets what they want. I have no clear idea of how politics got to such a divisive and childish point, but I have an optimistic hope that we get out of here. If we don’t, the consequences will result in America being a lot less great – and that’s something none of us want.