Compromise is necessary in a democracy- even a democratic republic- when no single faction has a dominant share of the electorate.

As far as I can tell, the word "budget" doesn't appear in the Constitution.

What we've run into these days is, I hope, the height of Team Politics. Party over principle, and party over country. While the GOP owns the lion's share of the blame for our current political impasse, the Democrats aren't without blame. You don't compromise by putting forward legislation and telling the other side you threw in a few things you think they like, but that was the Democratic concept of compromise in '09 and '10.

“Nobody has a legitimate reason to fear a faithful interpretation of the Constitution, and nobody has any legitimate reason to fear effective and complete protection of civil rights." - Alan Gura