TheNextReport

The Mighty Wave As the GOP basks in the Republican mid-term landslide, it is useful to consider what was lost and what the results say about the nature of our democracy and the intelligence of the electorate. This was a victory for the deliberate GOP strategy of government by obstruction - of hamstringing the party in the majority so that it will be rendered unable to govern, angering the voters sufficiently that they will award the throne and scepter to the minority... well at least the scepter. Never mind that the important business of the country will be either put on hold (like energy policy), critically diluted (like health care policy) or way-layed entirely. Never mind that this irresponsible strategy was enacted in the midst of the worst economic crisis in a generation, a crisis that was in large part the result of GOP anti-regulatory theology. Perhaps even worse was the manner in which the voters blithely permitted Republican candidates in several key elections - such as Nevada...

The American people have proven the sad truth: Democracy is a wasted effort in the U.S. where the rich rule, the ignorant struggle and the rest prefer to roll over and go back to sleep. How could anyone vote for those who promised to repeal the modest health care reforms the Obama administration squeeked through Congress? How could anyone vote for those who refused to extend unemployment benefits in the middle of the worst financial crisis in a generation? How could anyone vote to return power to those who advocate the same type of governing philosophy that led to the crisis in the first place? How could anyone be that stupid?

Now the media, which endlessly hyped the certainty of a massive Republican victory during the run-up to the mid-term elections, is trying to "figure out what happened." What happened was a massive decision by the liberal side of the political spectrum not to bother going to the polls because of the official certainty of a Republican victory. The pundits pronounced the verdict long before a single polling place opened. In case you haven't guessed, we no longer live in a democracy. How many of us are going to ever bother voting if the outcome has already been determined by the media?