How to prevent future debt ceiling fiascoes, AND...

1. Either eliminate the debt ceiling law, or set it so outrageously high that we can prevent ourselves from blackmailing the entire US economy over whatever outrage-du-jour captures the attention of our Congresscritters during a particular election cycle. Otherwise, if this tactic succeeds, expect it to come up during vicious debates about abortion or the legalization of gay marriage.
2. Simply acknowledge that running a government is different from running a household. The mere fact that our debt was considered more valuable than gold until recently should open people's eyes to that fact, but most people simply don't have their eyes open on this issue.
3. Move our military budget into our infrastructure budget, and include Internet among our infrastructure. Our roads, sewers, natural gas lines (hello, Allentown!), phone lines, and power lines, and so much more have been ignored to the point where many of us are coming close to driving on gravel. (Hello, Pennsylvania!) We do not need to continue playing the superpower role (in a military sense), as conventional warfare nowadays more resembles terrorist skirmishes that nation-against-nation conflicts. But we do need to get travel and communications up to snuff so as to better get citizens meeting up with job opportunities. If we prepare for world trade, we'll get world trade. If we prepare for war...we'll get it.
4. In fact, let's just get out of the war business altogether. Let's just legalize the drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc. and tax it. We've fought against them, right to beyond the point where our civil liberties have taken severe hits, and the problems still do not go away. Rather than pouring money down the "war metaphor" rathole, let's just come up with smarter laws to deal with those situations, and reap some tax revenue out of it.
5. Let's get serious about education, and it's primary goal: to get children focused on what they're good at, and ready them to use their focus in the workforce. Pitting kids against real-world challenges, just like the ones Mom and Dad face at work, can do more to engage them and make them eager to learn. Integrate technology, because kids are already swimming in it.
6. Social democracy. We won't and should not kill capitalism, because it works. (Ask China, just ask them discreetly.) But we should confine it to what it does best, and make government the overseer of those areas where capitalism doesn't work so well. It's worked quite well in Europe; maybe we should take a closer look, especially regarding health care.
7. Treat corporations as not-quite-humans. They are not human, they cannot be fully human. So let's lose our inhibitions about regulating them, so that they don't create misery in the pursuit of profit. Their financial clout, make no mistake, translates into political clout quite seamlessly. There is no need to protect them from government regulation.
8. Get involved in government. Yes, it's time-consuming and boring and complicated. So's life. But your government affects you more than you know, and instead of trying to cripple it, you should be engaging with it. This debt-ceiling crisis (entirely self-inflicted) is a perfect example of that.