"If you want to understand why the government is shut down or why elected Republicans would even consider doing something as reckless as using a debt default to extract policy concessions from the White House--without necessarily even knowing which policy concessions they want--Stan Greenberg has a memo for you," writes Francis Wilkinson, a Bloomberg View editorial board member.

Of course if you begin with the supposition that Republicans are "reckless" and ignore the fact that debt-ceiling brinksmanship...