The disconnect between America and Washington D.C. continues to grow.

For the past several weeks, everyday Americans have watched and waited as partisan politics threatened to shut down our government. With conservative Republicans at odds with the Democrat-controlled Senate, a resolution to the United States’ impending debt crisis seems to be out of reach.

And on Monday, President Obama and House Peake John Boenhner both took to the airwaves, addressing the nation via television in what some cynics might call more posturing and politics.

The reality is this: Come Aug. 2, our nation faces a national crisis like most have never seen. Unless the debt ceiling is raised, America will be unable to meet its financial obligations. Our economy and our nation’s stability is at risk.

At the same time, raising that debt ceiling without addressing the out-of-control spending crisis fails to address the underlying crisis. As an old adage says, if you want to get out of a hole, stop digging. And unless Congress and the president “stop digging,” our nation will continue to sink deeper into this hole of debt.

Of course, there are no easy answer. Millions of Americans depend on the government for income, from Social Security benefits to government employees to those on welfare or government assistance. Even in Troy, we’ve seen the impact of the crisis as a Federal Aviation Administration shutdown could delay much-anticipated improvements at the Troy Municipal Airport.

Businessmen and taxpayers on Main Street in America know what they would do if faced with similar financial challenges. Most have been dealing with these types of issues for a while now.

In Congress, though, the posturing of politics seems to outweigh common sense and the desire to simply solve a problem and move on to the next challenge or opportunity.

And that’s where the disconnect continues to grow.