I'll try and get this back on track before it gets any more personal...

Truth be told, the deficit is almost meaningless in and of itself FOR NOW. The U.S. government is still able to issue debt at an extraordinarily low rate, with no evidence of that changing anytime soon (unless no bill is passed before Aug 2). Furthermore, a massive component of the deficit is cyclical i.e. lost revenues because of unemployment and poor economic growth, combined with the automatic stabilizers such as EI (which has been extended on several occasions).

Even the "stimulus" isn't that big a deal, as it was predominantly a small series of tax cuts and bailout of the states, with roughly 1/3 devoted to research and infrastructure programs. All of these measures are considered by reputable economists to be good bang for the dollar, to say nothing of the "future investment" aspect of keeping schools open, etc. The problem with the stimulus is that it was too small to do anything other than prevent a depression, rather than promote real job growth.

The real, long-term deficit crisis is related to: 1) the structural deficit i.e. taxes have been too low to support spending since long before the recession, and 2) health spending projections, which show no signs of slowing down. Social Security could almost certainly be made solvent with minor adjustments to the rules and figures. If the Gang of Six deal can add some sanity into both of these problems, which for whatever reason couldn't get put into the health bill, the U.S. will actually be demonstrating to the world it's capable of keeping its head on straight, if not getting its $h!t together.

I would also argue that these problems aren't caused by "right wing crazies" or the primary system...no matter how much influence Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, et al. seem to believe they have, they've never been able to deliver a nomination for the Republicans or against the Dems, and their collective audience is probably no more than 10% of the population (few of which would ever be considered undecided/independent voters).