Beyond Stupid

I knew the most crucial of the mid-term elections were being held in places that are politically challenged to say the least, but I must admit that I am absolutely shocked by how incredibly absurd the results were. I am really amused by the pundits now twisting themselves into pretzels in an effort to find some message in those results. Here is a news flash: there is no message. There simply is no rational reason for what the voters just did. Understanding how stupid the voters were requires a look in the rear view mirror to see the behavior they just rewarded.

The Injustices Republican Presidents have appointed to the Supreme Court have given us the most politicized and worst court in the history of our nation. It truly is the court of the rich and powerful, by the rich and powerful, and for the rich and powerful. It is little wonder that the people of this nation think our justice system is stacked against them. Furthermore, George W. Bush started an unnecessary war that has now destabilized a large and important part of the world. He also turned a federal surplus into a huge deficit and crashed our economy. The voters quite understandably reacted to this by electing Barack Obama President and giving the Democratic Party control of both houses of Congress.

The Republicans responded this huge political defeat by misusing the filibuster in the Senate to make the government is dysfunctional as possible. Their goal was to make President Obama fail regardless how much that might hurt the country. In spite this, the Democrats still managed to pass a few bills that helped the economy grow. The pace of recovery, however, was painfully slow, in large part because of the road blocks set up by the Republican Party. And how did the voters react to this? Well, in five states they actually took their frustration out on the Democrats by electing extreme right wing Republican governors. The voters also rewarded the Republican tactics of obstruction in congress by giving the Republicans control of the House of Representatives.

The right wing governors then slashed taxes for the rich, cut funding for public education and other vital services, and deprived thousands of people medical care by turning down federal money to expand Medicaid. Drunk with power, the Republicans in the House of Representatives soon turned their congress into the least productive in the history of our nation. I would argue that it is also the most destructive because the Republicans actually shut down our government and damaged the full faith and credit of the United States by threatening to default on the payment of our debts.

In spite of the fact that most of the states with extreme right wing Republican governors are less well off than the people of neighboring states, the voters have now rewarded those incompetent governors by reelecting them.  They have also made our economic recovery less likely by giving the Republicans control of the Senate.  In every recent mid-term election the voters have rewarded bad behavior and failed policies by increasing the power of the Republican Party.  The guy who said voters are not stupid, they are just too preoccupied with their daily struggles to follow politics is dead wrong.  Saying that is like saying that the guy who wants to repeal social security so he can buy more lottery tickets to provide for his retirement is not stupid, he is just too preoccupied with his daily struggles to find out how social security works.   What the voters did in this election is as stupid as giving your dog a treat for shitting on your couch!

If I sound like I am panicking it is because I am. I am scared to death that Ron White is correct when he says “you can't fix stupid!” I am also afraid that our democracy might be too fragile to survive such stupidity. I want to yell at the top of my lungs:

“WAKE THE FUCK UP! THE BILLIONAIRES, THE SUPREME COURT, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE WAGING A WAR AGAINST TO MIDDLE CLASS! CLOSING YOUR EYES TO THAT WAR IS ALLOWING THEM TO TURN THE AMERICAN DREAM INTO A MERE FANTASY!"