A Pox on Your House

I expected it but I hoped against it, but my expectations were met and exceeded.  It's unfortunate, but many of the people who voted in protest against big government and health care will get what they voted for and so much more.  Gridlocked government at a time that calls for bold action and a very unpleasant and partisan witch hunt on Capitol Hill for the boogeymen in Obama's administration.  Impeachment hearings anyone?  The red scare is on among many who were elected -- following Glenn Beck and Faux News they will hold hearings and demand the czars explain themselves.  They will extend the tax cuts, [which the weasely Dems will jump on board with] causing further damage to the debt and deficit without providing any of the stimulus or demand that the country so desperately needs.  More than ever, the corporate interests will rule -- while I doubt that many rules, except perhaps the clean air ones [Murkowski's pet project], will be rolled back, there will be no improvements on food or drug safety, oil or mine safety, biomedical research, alternative energy, or climate change, among others.  The long slow decline of American jobs will continue as the incentives to not keep jobs here won't be repealed.  The gap between rich and poor will widen and our infrastructure will crumble.  I can go on, but why bother.  The American people are ignorant of what goes on - they follow Dancing with the Stars much more closely than the people running for office, they are helpless and hopeless so they strike out in anger, which only makes things worse. 

I have to remind myself that I am not worse off personally, although the value of my house will likely decline further, I can afford my payments, and don't have to sell and I'm not in the bottom 95% of the economic ladder.  Any negative changes or lack of change will affect others far more than myself, so I need to adopt the mindset of so many others - hear no evil, see no evil.... It isn't the end of the world and this too shall pass, but its sad that so many people will suffer [although clearly many of them have wrought this themselves with their vote or lack of one] and times do not bode well for the American Experiment in the long run - but alas, at least I won't live long enough to see the really awful results.  I do hope this does not mean we will go to war in any other countries for a while.