On Saturday, the downgrade of the U.S. government’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ by Standard & Poor’s sent shockwaves throughout the world, temporarily rattling our markets.

While both parties share the blame for how we got into our massive national-debt hole, S&P’s analysis of the credit downgrade focused mainly on the political gridlock in Washington.

Its report stated that the “political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed.”

The blame game began immediately. On the Sunday-talk-show circuit, White House surrogates were foolishly calling this a “tea-party downgrade” while talk-radio hosts on the right were calling it “Obamageddon.” Ironically, this is the same kind of over-the-top rhetoric that S&P decried.

But how would S&P rate us if we were all getting along in Washington? What if Republicans simply agreed with Democrats and came over to their way of thinking? Let’s take a look at the past seven months and see.

If we were all getting along, we would have passed a “clean” debt-ceiling increase as President Obama originally requested and spared the country the political wrangling it took to cut $2 trillion in the Budget Control Act.

If we were all getting along, perhaps the House wouldn’t have had the courage to pass a budget that would have cut $4.4 trillion. And we wouldn’t have begun the important discussion of reforming health and retirement-security programs for current retirees and protecting them for future generations. The Senate, on the other hand, continues to be much more collegial than the House, but it hasn’t passed a budget for over 800 days. Apparently, it’s more politically advantageous and a lot less rancorous to ignore your duty and the solvency of important programs on which our seniors depend.

If we were all getting along, would we have passed “Cut, Cap, and Balance,” a piece of legislation that cuts spending, caps it at a percentage of GDP, and forces a debate on a balanced-budget amendment to our Constitution?

If we were all getting along, would we even have cut that measly $38 billion out of the continuing resolution to fund the government in February?

If we were all getting along, wouldn’t the debate in Washington still be over how much more we should spend instead of how much more we should cut?

None of these things would have been accomplished without the fight, unfortunate as that may seem to the casual observer — or to credit-rating agencies. That’s because the entrenched Washington interests simply see no reason to stop spending other people’s money.

So the fighting is not really the issue. It’s the lackluster results that each fight produces. That’s where S&P hits the nail on the head, because it knows that all this political fighting hasn’t hardened Washington’s resolve to finally deal with our massive spending and debt.

During the debt-ceiling debate, Americans saw inside the sausage factory, and it wasn’t pretty. Nonetheless, citizens and legislators alike cannot run away from this problem because it’s too hard or too unsavory.

Our economic problems grow infinitely more difficult the longer we wait. Everyone from President Obama to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to the business owners and families in my district agree on that point. The question is, When will Washington finally do something about it?

I ran for Congress because I wanted our children and grandchildren to have the same chance at realizing the American dream that we did. The freshmen elected to Congress in 2010 have been fighting for that dream. We haven’t always gotten what we wanted, but we’re changing the conversation and slowly making progress in the right direction.

So the fight before us is clear, and it’s not a war between Democrats and Republicans. It’s a fight to resist the temptations of choosing business-as-usual in Washington over what is right for the long-term economic health of our country. The easy road leads to higher unemployment, broken promises, austerity, and recession. But the road that requires responsibility today will lead America back to jobs, economic opportunity, growth, and prosperity tomorrow.

Some things are just worth fighting for.

— Sean Duffy represents Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district and is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and the Joint Economic Committee.