Political Ponderings

Welcome back Rick Perry to another, record-setting term as Governor…

Perry retains the governor's mansion by default, with less than 40% of the vote in a race that was fractured by distractions from an independent, a comedian, and a libertarian, in addition to a Democrat contender.

I would hardly call Rick Perry’s re-election a mandate from the people of Texas.

On Capitol Hill, the House goes to the Democrats…and the Senate may as well.

Nancy Pelosi is going to be in your face a lot as the next, presumed Speaker of the House…and as Democrats regain “control” of congress for the first time in a dozen years, I invoke the motto of Missouri—“Show Me.”

These are the same words I invoked when President Bush took office 6-years ago, along with the hopeful class of 2000. The operative words then were “show me.”

Republicans showed us, alright.
If anything, they’ve showed that neither party has a corner on the market for brilliance or stupidity. Now, as the baton passes from one party to another, so does the opportunity and responsibility for the newly elected or re-elected representatives and senators to do a better job in the future than they have in the past.

What are the odds of that happening?
Slim to none, in my view, because we have put into office professional legislators, not statesmen. We’ve put in proxies for special interests, not problem solvers for the people.

So here come two more years that will likely be punctuated by pointings of fingers and findings of flaws as the office holders revert to their primary life function—retaining office—and legislation possibly grinds to a halt as the balance of power shifts from just off to one side to just off to the other side. That might not be so bad after all.