The Democrats in the House of Representatives produced over 400 bills in the last Congress that the U.S. Senate did not have the time or inclination to act on. We didn’t pay attention to most of those bills, although a few, like Cap & Trade, were big effing deals. When we see the Republican-run House pass bills to repeal health care reform or ban czarism from the executive office, we shouldn’t really get upset. It’s theater. It is only important for setting precedents for future action should the Republicans win back the Senate and the White House in two years. If they do that, then we’re all totally screwed anyway and we’ll be right back to Bushism with no money left to bail us out. Everything I’ve written for two years has had this fact as part of the implicit backdrop. It’s why I have so little patience for Democratic infighting. I don’t care if it’s progressives who are holier-than-thou or Blue Dogs who won’t endorse Pelosi as their leader, we don’t have the luxury of letting down our guard against these know-nothing plutocrats. At the same time, we don’t need to freak out when they are doing something ineffectual just to piss us off and to rally their base. They have so much Stupid to give. It will be like a firehose of Stupid for at least the first nine or ten months here.
