Losing Control

As Democrats contemplate where to go from here with the Tea Party, there is an underlying question that must be answered. Does it matter?

As Nate Silver does his calculations, and tells us the odds that this or that will happen in the House and the Senate, should we care? We have witnessed the breakdown of our government system over the past 2 years. The party in the minority, whoever that may be, now has the seemingly unfettered right to block any attempt at moving legislation forward. Unless there is a 60 seat 'supermajority' in the Senate, we are in a perpetual stalemate. The only governing that is done is not in bold strokes but in painfully slow, often pathetically compromised steps.

Apart from bragging rights, and I told you so's, 51 for you and 49 for me has about as much impact as finesteride has had on my hair growth.

If you thought the last 2 years were filled with inconvenient truths about ineffective government, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until we get some Tea Partiers baying at the moon, ranting and raving about nothing in very loud voices.

If you wanted to negate any attempts at doing what is necessary to move this country out of its present morass, then you have come to the right place. For those who proclaim that any government is bad government, you are about to see what bad government is really all about. For those who were mad as hell about something, get ready to be mad as hell about something else.

It is a time of incoherence in politics. People with no experience and no platform other than we don't like the other guy will soon be the other guy.

So, whether we are saddled with 1 Tea Partier or many, the next 2 years will prove to be no one's cup of tea.

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