Peering into My Crystal Ball

[tantalyr]

So the mid-term elections are less than a week away, and my crystal ball is beginning to clear a bit, though still fairly cloudy . . . .

House: The GOP will pick up a net of 3 to 5 seats across the country, increasing their majority in the House but a far cry from any "wave."

Senate: The GOP will pick up a net of 6, perhaps 7, seats--again far from a "wave" but enough to gain a majority in the Senate.

Upshot: The GOP will control both houses of Congress, but certainly not a veto-proof majority. Congress will propose a number of laws, most of which will be vetoed by the President. The XL Pipeline law which will almost certainly pass and be sent to the White House, and vetoing that one will be tough for Obama since a number of Democrats support it as well.

President Obama will attempt to govern by "pen and phone," signing executive orders left and right since his preferred laws (on immigration reform and minimum wage, for example) have no chance of getting through Congress. It remains to be seen what a GOP-controlled Congress will attempt to do to try to curb that executive authority.

[Deleted]

Prediction: Congress will waste millions of dollars and many hours and days voting on even more repeals of the Affordable Care Act, all of which will be filibustered and if they pass, vetoed. Wasting more taxpayer money and squandering any real opportunities they may have to address the REAL issues facing the nation, not the issues they concoct.

Prediction: Congress will attempt to cut even more from the federal budget (i.e. medicare, education, regulation) while avoiding the tough issues they should be addressing such as tax-reform, immigration, wall-street regulation/reform, the student loan bubble, minimum wage and jobs, education and infrastructure.

Prediction: Congress will waste more tax-payer money on witch-hunts of the President while ignoring their own wasteful spending and acknowledging their own part in the cause of many of the issues they blame on the President.

[Pharcellus]

Well, so, that happened. <.<

Depressing, but not unexpected, except maybe in scope. I can't say that the Republicans "won"; more that the Democrats threw the election for them.

The problem is that the Democratic party sucks. They can't hold to *ANY* principles. I didn't even want to vote for my Democratic Senate candidate (Michelle Nunn) or even my governor candidate (Jason Carter), because they both ran on the same stupid shit the Repubs run on. However, I did vote and for them, because I know how badly the alternative would (continue to) fuck things up. The problem is that when your party is pretty much a lite version of the other party, your base gets disillusioned and doesn't bother voting. Republican voters aren't going to vote for you, and Democratic voters don't want to vote for you (or vote at all) because you look and sound like what they are voting against.

If you can't win on your principles, you shouldn't bother running.

This election had the lowest turnout since the late 1940s. It was pathetic. I had better not run into ANYone who bitches about the outcome that didn't vote. I'm likely to punch them out on the spot.

Anyway, enjoy your two years of complete and utter asshattery. I'll just keep looking forward to Amendment XXVIII where we seriously begin to fix this mess once and for all time.