U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, admits Republicans’ strategy of shutting down the government to defund the Affordable Care Act was unwise.

He told reporters recently his vote against bills that reopened the government and end the government shut down wasn’t a hissy fit about the national health care law. It was a simple message that the national debt and deficit spending were left untouched by both the shutdown and its resolution. Stopgap funding bills and raising the debt ceiling are short-term measures that avoid problems now but don’t deal with the debt, entitlements, spending cuts or tax reform.

Such changes are exactly what Reed has been fighting for since he ran for Congress. It is little wonder he would vote against a shutdown bill that achieved none of those goals.

“I wanted to set a position (Wednesday night) to tell the American people and the people of our district that we are standing firm to go to Washington, D.C. to solve this problem, and that is our national debt crisis, our currency crisis, our fiscal crisis and our job crisis,” Reed said.

Many disagree with Reed’s vote on the shutdown bills, but voting to end the shutdown was an easy political path to take. Aren’t representatives who take the easy or popular path exactly what voters have said they don’t want?