Sundown on the American Republic

Yesterday, for many, signaled the end of the American republic. For others, yesterday was the best day ever, or at least since the Contract with America. That election may act, if we are lucky, as a cautionary tale for Congressional Republicans. Lets face it these jokers on both sides of the isle aren't suppose to be working for their parties or their ideals, they are working for We the People, and occasionally We the People need government to do something, like fix potholes and pass budgets, etc. The Contract with America bunch forgot about that, and really only wanted to answer to the Contract and those who dreamed it up and benefited from it. Enough about that, politicians aren't like Mr. Smith so lets not suppose they will man up.

A few thoughts from this latest election...

First you must be a real jerk to lose a seat in Congress, consider some of the folks that didn't lose seats and then consider those that lost again.

Second, polarization is killing politics, there are fewer and fewer moderates. Moderates maybe championed by some parts of the media, but mostly for the oddity at this point they are like seeing pandas in the wild. Moderates it turns out, are the real jerks, as practicing the art of politics leaves you open to criticism from all the cable news channels and confuses the voters at home, that frankly are too stupid to understand the grey areas and therefore require the black and the white or the left or the right.

Third, the partisanship on the part of cable news networks is mindboggling, the talking heads at CNMSCNBSNews have very easy jobs, they need not report on the happenings of the day, but just express their opinion (louder and more sarcastic the best) of said happenings. Their existence polarizes America, how many times have you heard, the news is either too liberal or too conservative? Both sides loath one another's cable news networks. Ingoring them would be best. However cable news is like a three year old, ratcheting up a tantrum to get you to pay attention. If we stopped paying attention, the advertising money would leave and eventually Fox News and MSNBC would reformat and start showing reruns of, The Courtship of Eddie's Father and Family Affair. The far edges of both parties also act like spoiled three year olds, to entice the other side and thus fear their base into giving more money and getting out to vote.

Finally, the sun rose this morning, and if it comes up tomorrow I think we have a trend, and are likely to see 730 or so more sunrises until the next election.

Enjoy

Dan