Soon it will be Election Day, but, according to some, the day's debacle has already been written in stone.
According to the Cassandras, the Democrats are going to lose at least one chamber, maybe two. President Obama is going to lose the legislative advantage and be forced to play by Republican rules for the remainder of his first term. This will mean that everything good he's done for the past two years could be swept aside, everything bad could stand, and we could find ourselves stuck with a replay of the Clinton years at best, and the Bush II years at worst.
Not a great outlook.
But then there's the other side of the coin, where the Democrats hold onto at least the House, and maybe also the Senate. President Obama keeps the legislative advantage, and, not being beholden to Tea Baggers and their ilk, can continue to bring American back on track after the darkness of the previous Administration. We go forward as a nation, we forge a better future for ourselves and our children, and, in the wake of a strong and sane America, the whole world benefits.
Which would be nice -- except that, if the last two years are any barometer, I'm not sure we're going to get the stronger, saner nation we're hoping for.
Like many, I thought that President Obama was going to shine a bright beam of sense and sensibility that would make Candidate Obama look like a sputtering cigarette lighter. But, like many, I've been left to hold my zippo aloft in the rain while the band refuses to take the stage. And, like many, I've come to the conclusion that, while a large improvement over Bush II, that's not saying a whole heck of a lot.
No, it's not all his fault that the Hope and Change Signal remains mostly dim in the Gotham skies. He did inherit a very bad situation from the previous Administration. It would be hard for anyone to follow that Joker and keep a straight face.
But pronouncements from the Barack Cave have been rather confusing, almost from day one. Things that have leaked out around the sides of his public persona have not been very encouraging. Worse still, his fellow party members seem willing to engage in mendacity, underhandedness, and, most terrifying of all, a serious lack of forward motion in putting our needs as a people first.
What's a Democrat to do? Some would say "abandon ship." Some would say that we should refuse to acknowledge what good has been done -- and there has been some -- and instead punish the party by withdrawing support this November.
But who is that really hurting?
Some would say we should not vote, in order to register our displeasure. Of course, this is stupid and accomplishes nothing. The Tea Party will be out in droves to make their voices heard, and if their ideological opposites don't show up to do the same, then America could be in for a bad time the next few years.
Some would say we should vote for third parties, both to register the aforementioned displeasure and to lay groundwork for the replacements -- perhaps long overdue -- for the Democratic Party. To such people I can only give two words: "Reform Party."
Remember how well that worked for the Right? Remember Ron Paul's two glorious terms in office? What makes you think the Left is going to have any better luck with that route?
Some say America is so rotten, and both parties so corrupt, that it must be destroyed by way of a revolution, so that we can pick the pieces back up and make something new and better. These people are jackasses who want to see people they don't like get killed, and are either unwilling or unable to realize that (a) they're sociopaths and (b) people they like are going to get killed, too -- by the thousands.
Every once in a while a revolution is called for, but it cannot be a light undertaking, undertaken by those who know nothing of it. If the person calling for blood in the streets is sitting behind a computer, alternating between op-eds and porn, he is not the next Thomas Jefferson.
So we're faced with the only sane choice: we vote, and we vote the party that has the greatest chances of both winning, and bringing us the legislation we want, and that America needs. For most people reading this, that means we vote Democrat. And we do so recognizing that we risk disappointment.
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