The Empire Strikes Back...

Remember how your guts just kind of hurt at the end of "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"? If, like me you saw it when you were very young, you were legitimately concerned- the good guys had indeed had it handed to them by the end, and no one really knew what was going to happen next. You were scared. I know I personally re-watched the movie to make sure I didn't miss the good guys winning in the end. The good guys lost.

Maybe its appropriate that I face the results of the 2010 midterm elections with the same sense of trepidation as I did as a child. On the other hand, this isn't a movie. This is important. Financial policy, foreign policy, the civil rights of our LGBT communities- all of these things are now in flux.

Well, great job America. Great Job. You've done this to yourselves. All 44 or so odd percent of you that put forth the effort to vote, educated opinion or otherwise. We have you to thank for Rand Paul- a special brand of right wing simian thug just a touch to the left of Atilla the Hun has been elected to one of the highest offices in the land. Were this clear example of people voting against common reason or self interest an isolated incident, we might just shrug it off- This kind of thing happens.

But, no no no America, we know how much you love retro- Its 1994 again and the Contract on America is Back! Sweeping victories at the national and state levels for the party of business in an anti-business climate; a resounding win for the party of fiscal irresponsibility in an era that demands fiscal prudence; sweeping the warhawks back to power in the midst of two failing, unpopular wars! The paradoxes are numerous.

Yes, America, you did this to yourself. You've gone and caused yet another blog to be written- yet another ranting series of diatribes randomly generated in the cluttered, binary world of the internet.

Tonight, I could go into a rant about this political issue or that. But, what really has me going are all you people out there. You walking sound-bite lemmings, you short sighted fools who know nothing of the inner workings of the political or economic processes of this country, but know what you've heard, and will be damned if a few popular phrases don't just sum up your ability to critically think about the issues.

Yes, Teabaggers, you're part of this, but so are the soccer moms and work-a-day types who don't bother to inform themselves and just parrot the ludicrous bile they hear on TV.

"Well, I'm just sick of all this big government. Someone needs to stop them."

"You can't just be a tax and spend liberal."

"Obamacare is socialist."

Blah, blah, blah. SHUT UP, America.

Sick of Big Government? Move into an Anarchist commune. You'll love their socialist systems of economic reciprocity! Or, barring that, get used to "Big Government"- Its not going away anytime soon, and I think a government is at its "biggest" and most intrusive when its telling people how to live, who to love, or what to smoke. But of course, most of you are fine with the hypocrisy that comes with railing against so-called "big" Government whilst lobbying for it to intrude upon the personal lives of others. Where was you outrage with the Patriot Act in 2001? The Habeas Corpus Act in 06? The illegal Wire taps? Oh, that didn't bother you? Then SHUT UP, America.

Can't be a tax and spend Liberal? First, I'd argue that its much more reckless to be a No Tax All Spend Conservative, especially when you're spending at least 800 BILLION and counting on a strategic quagmire called the war in Iraq. Furthermore, if you had even a rudimentary understanding of economics, you would understand that the best economic minds in our country were disappointed that the stimulus- which worked- was TOO SMALL! You would be aware of Keynesian economics, you know the economic theories which pulled this country out of the depression and laid the groundwork for our best social safety net- Social Security. I'd like to see any of you old, conservative, fiscally prudent people deny your social security benefits.

Obamacare is socialist, I'll give you that. I mean, seriously, handing private corporations 30+ million new consumers with the caveat that the corporation can't drop them simply because they're sick, yeah I'm pretty sure that's what Marx and Engels were talking about.

America, you are like a drunken fool who can't decide what guy to date so you call them both up to the bar and watch them fight. Despite the wear and tear, the complete lack of faith you've instilled in your electorate, of all things, the Democrats managed to get some decent work done in the last few years. It wasn't perfect, some of it falls far short of what it could have been, but it was progress.

And now, like Lando, you've gone and sold us out again America.