looming midterm erections

Although I think the Democrats deserve whatever drubbing may be heading their way after their massive ineptitude since Obama's election, I can't say that I'll be all that happy to see the GOP regain power in the legislative. It's not obvious to me that the GOP has any more coherent a self-image and agenda than the Dems do, and it's also not obvious that the Tea Party is not merely a subset of the GOP, what with all the sinister cross-pollination going on. If the Tea Party claims it's for small government, for example, how does this distinguish it from classical conservatism within the GOP? (NB: I'm not one of those idiots who view the Tea Party as a hotbed of racism and xenophobia.)

Perhaps the best thing that can come of the midterms will be a renewed dynamic tension between the legislative and executive branches, resulting in just the sort of static (by which I really mean gridlock preventing government from further mucking up the market) that can lead to economic robustness. Although it might be too much to hope for a return to the scenario when Clinton was in office (a GOP-dominated Congress after a so-called "Republican Revolution"), we can always hope for something that echoes the 90s.


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