And the election ended as Americans had been prepared for government split. We heard reports of various scenarios from complete Republican control of Congress, to Democrats hoping to hold on and win, and to what we eventually obtained - a split where Republicans have the House and Democrats the Senate. What does it all mean?
1) The country is still a strong democracy - what isn’t working can be voted out with a chance to change course. It is also a last gasp for the old guard to get their programs in before things change. Notice how all the House Republican leaders are older white with business ties? Well, one thing about the Obama win was the understanding that America will no longer be majority white going forward, so in many ways Boehner’s team looks like a flash of the past. And, that last chance is good for America because the debate doesn’t stop just because of an election - give these guys a chance to show what they have.
2) Voters are interested in the economy and jobs - no matter about the Tea Party rhetoric - incumbents and professional politicians won for both parties. Voters in the mid-west returned several Republicans to congress that had been voted out two years earlier. Alaska retained their sitting Senator and long-term congressman despite calls for changing Washington. It seems as if the problems that started this economic mess aren’t over and won’t be for some time.
3) What is going to happen within the Republican Party over the next two years? Whatever it is will be historic, whatever it is. We see Rand Paul wanting to bring in the Tea Party for Washington meetings just as Boehner names his country club leadership. Will Sarah Palin take the party and run for President giving Americans a chance to vote for someone where more than 60% of Americans say is unqualified? Fascinating what happens when uneducated people are fed short half truths and outright lies.
4) Jon Stewart/Keith Olbermann - liberal ignorance? Chamberlain? Maybe not that bad, but let’s remember that if Republicans and Tea Baggers are the enemy and have another agenda, and have shown they will do almost anything, then appeasement just might not work. And maybe I’m getting the wrong thing out of the message here, please enlighten me, but more civility to a bully didn’t work in elementary school and probably won’t work here. What we need to do here is respond here in kind, and then cooperate when the bullies do. It’s all in Robert Axelrod’s, The Evolution of Cooperation, where game players studied what the best strategy would be with someone that doesn’t share your goals. And, to briefly sum it up, the winning strategy is to respond in kind, and then cooperate as long as the other side does it. So, don’t put down those guns yet - we’ve seen the warnings, but hopefully it won’t get that far if we start now with the program.
1) The country is still a strong democracy - what isn’t working can be voted out with a chance to change course. It is also a last gasp for the old guard to get their programs in before things change. Notice how all the House Republican leaders are older white with business ties? Well, one thing about the Obama win was the understanding that America will no longer be majority white going forward, so in many ways Boehner’s team looks like a flash of the past. And, that last chance is good for America because the debate doesn’t stop just because of an election - give these guys a chance to show what they have.
2) Voters are interested in the economy and jobs - no matter about the Tea Party rhetoric - incumbents and professional politicians won for both parties. Voters in the mid-west returned several Republicans to congress that had been voted out two years earlier. Alaska retained their sitting Senator and long-term congressman despite calls for changing Washington. It seems as if the problems that started this economic mess aren’t over and won’t be for some time.
3) What is going to happen within the Republican Party over the next two years? Whatever it is will be historic, whatever it is. We see Rand Paul wanting to bring in the Tea Party for Washington meetings just as Boehner names his country club leadership. Will Sarah Palin take the party and run for President giving Americans a chance to vote for someone where more than 60% of Americans say is unqualified? Fascinating what happens when uneducated people are fed short half truths and outright lies.
4) Jon Stewart/Keith Olbermann - liberal ignorance? Chamberlain? Maybe not that bad, but let’s remember that if Republicans and Tea Baggers are the enemy and have another agenda, and have shown they will do almost anything, then appeasement just might not work. And maybe I’m getting the wrong thing out of the message here, please enlighten me, but more civility to a bully didn’t work in elementary school and probably won’t work here. What we need to do here is respond here in kind, and then cooperate when the bullies do. It’s all in Robert Axelrod’s, The Evolution of Cooperation, where game players studied what the best strategy would be with someone that doesn’t share your goals. And, to briefly sum it up, the winning strategy is to respond in kind, and then cooperate as long as the other side does it. So, don’t put down those guns yet - we’ve seen the warnings, but hopefully it won’t get that far if we start now with the program.
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