Reality can be defined as the 'norms' that your community agrees on.... Do you believe in witches and demons? How about 'trickle down economics?' Of course, some 'realities' work better than others.
The laws of nature tend to favor 'actual reality' over the ones that only exist in certain peoples' twisted world view, but over the short term utter nonsense can seem real, and even drive actual 'reality' to places we can't imagine.
We're in one of those places in time where 'reality' is being defined by consensus. We have a federal budget in the $4 trillion range, a number that seems like magic to people who count only on their digits (fingers and toes). To be fair, it's not a number you can actually 'think' about. You have to use certain tricks of the mind to make it into a useful concept, or you can just use accounting....
We are creating about $1 trillion a year in new federal debt, this freaks out the tea baggers. They didn't notice when Bush was creating debt at twice that rate, or when Reagan was doing it at twice that rate in today's dollars. You see it's all about 'creating' reality. Numbers are funny that way.
The Republicans are trying to create the 'reality' where we simply default on the debt they created. If they can really make this 'happen,' then civilization as we know it will end. You see the 'debt ceiling' crisis isn't about paying the 'bills,' it's about paying the interest on Ronald Reagan's debt.