You've laid out the reasons why I think war is inevitable. Within the realm of standard politicking, get-out-the-vote, let's-appeal-to-various-voting-blocks, I do not think there is any way to balance the budget or curtail massive government spending. Neither party can do it. The voters don't really want them to do it.
So there will be war. And with a tremendous amount of luck, we may be able to rebuild a society, based on the old principles, which is put in place without having to worry about filibustering.
I'm not at all optimistic.