Here we go again.

The GOP is once again threatening to use the necessity of raising the debt ceiling as a tool to get something completely unrelated — the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and cuts to Medicare and Social Security. The party is demonstrating that it is willing to put the United States’ creditworthiness at risk for political gain.

Just two years ago, there was a fight over the debt ceiling. There was a very good chance then that the government would have to default on some of its obligations, and Standard and Poors downgraded the investment rating in U.S. treasury bonds from outstanding to excellent.

That may not seem like a big deal, but the downgrade sent shockwaves through the financial services’ world. The Dow had its worst week since 2008 on the news, the bond market dropped more than 10 percent, and the odds were good that the downgrade would cause higher interest rates globally and locally, for everything from buying a car or house to foreign investment in the United States. Fear was great that large-scale lenders to the United States, such as China, would dump U.S. investments.

The worst-case scenarios didn’t occur, as it happened, in part because Moody’s and Fitch refused to go along with S&P.

In fact, interest rates fell, foreign investments increased and a year later, Obama was re-elected and the GOP lost additional seats in the House and Senate.

One might think a lesson would be learned about the wisdom of playing with the nation’s financial well-being in such a cavalier way. One might believe that those who wanted to make a point about debt by leading the whole country into catastrophe might have been somewhat chastened. One might hope enlightened self-interest, if nothing else, would have turned the GOP away from such a course.

And one would be wrong, of course.

It sounded like House Speaker John Boehner had given the issue a great deal of thought and had concluded that playing with the debt ceiling — and the full faith and credit of the United States — was a bad idea.

He seemed reasonable and rational as recently as June. But then, in late August, Boehner said that Obama would be in a “whale of a fight” on the debt ceiling, which the United States will hit in mid-October.

To pay for the ceiling increase, he wants cuts to Medicare and Social Security, as well as the ACA, a sum greater than the amount of the debt ceiling increase.

Obama says his position is quite clear. “We will not negotiate with Congress on the need for Congress to pay bills that Congress has racked up.”

But it seems like the GOP-led House has learned something, at least, from the 2011 debacle.

A Friday memo to GOP members by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., says “the House will act to prevent a default on our obligations before” the mid- October deadline the Obama administration has established.

“House Republicans,” he says, “will demand fiscal reforms and pro-growth policies which put us on a path to balance in ten years in exchange for another increase in the debt limit.”

Incredibly vague, and with assurances that the House will end up lifting the debt ceiling anyhow. Cantor would like to tie the vote to alternative-fuel funding; that’s not likely to pass the Senate.

However it works out in the end, the American people have demonstrated clearly that they have no patience with threats to shut down the government or refusal to pay the nation’s bills. A poll done for Republican members of Congress in late August found that 71 percent opposed actions that could lead to a shutdown; only 23 percent favored a shutdown threat as a tactic.

Moreover, Republicans would pay for it if it happens. A poll taken in heavily conservative districts that asked whom would be blamed by voters for a shutdown found that Obama would be blamed by 19 percent, congressional Democrats by 22 percent and congressional Republicans by 28 percent. Those remaining said that everyone involved was to blame.

Whether the GOP is willing to scuttle its chances in the 2014 election cycle or not, the reality is that the government needs to continue functioning normally.

Debt, despite our Puritanical aversion to it, can be a valuable part of a nation’s or even a family’s financial plan, especially when interest rates are still historically low.

But debt has to be taken on thoughtfully and carefully, with a plan to repay it and wise use of the funds leading to a stronger economy that will allow for the funds to be repaid without austerity.

That should be the true lesson of the 2011 debt ceiling fight.

GINA HAMILTON, of Bath, is a Times Record staff writer and editor of the New Maine Times.