Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Federal Election Reactions

SCATTERED THOUGHTS
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Looking at the big map, I have to say, although the big-picture loss for the Democrats is tough, I really can't find a lot of names I'm sad to see go. In the House, we lost Democratic seats like Bart Stupak's (of "Health Care Bill will not go to abortion" fame); in the Senate we lost Feingold (which is upsetting), but mostly it was open seats that went Republican.

Does this mean bad things will happen in the next two years, if you're a liberal? No. With a divided Congress and a liberal-leaning President, no, not really. This isn't 2004-2006, with Republicans running wild across the hill-tops. It just isn't 2008-2010, where Democrats had (mostly) unfettered access to the halls of power.

So what's going to happen? Nothing. A lot, a lot of nothing. Obama will continue to use his executive power cautiously but positively, Republicans will basically shut down Congress, and Americans will get roundly sick of both of them.

I'm kind of strangely zen about that option.

It isn't as though our government as a whole will be shutting down. We still have an independent executive with some powers. Particularly, if we want more economic aid, the Federal Reserve has been more active than the Obama Administration even before the coming freeze. We just won't be seeing some of the changes in law that we want/need. But then, were we seeing it before the election?

WHAT NEXT?
That's coming in an upcoming post.