Politicians gone wild

I've nearly finished reading Do Not Ask What Good We Do:  Inside the U.S. House of Representatives by Robert Draper.  For a political junkie such as myself it is a fascinating look at how the lower house of Congress actually works.  


I found it to be very fairly balanced, praising several in both parties for earnestly trying to serve our country, but also revealing many in both parties for what they are:  crooked power hungry scum bags looking out only for their own political careers.  I mean to the point of being willing to throw the entire country under the bus if they have to to get themselves re-elected.  Our current crop of freshmen representatives are a particularly uninformed group. 


The bottom line is this:  IMO, If EITHER party ever gains control of the House of Representatives AND the Senate AND the Presidency, WE'RE SCREWED!  I'm convinced that a gridlocked Congress, bad as that might be, would serve us better than getting flattened by the runaway Special Interest Express of one-party rule.  You can't imagine how dangerous these people are!


Our wise Founding Fathers gave us the concept of "checks and balances" for a reason.  Whether between branches of government or houses of Congress, it's a good concept.


S

He 'da man....

....that would be Willard Mitt Romney, according to the voters in last night's Iowa caucus.  He nosed out Rick Santorum, who is vying with Michele Bachman to come across as the rightest of the right wingers.  She crashed and burned, leaving her free to go home and have a Tea Party.  Good 'ol Ron Paul still makes good sense now and then, in between lapses into mild insanity, and did well in Iowa, too.  And thankfully Iowans saw Newt "I'm different now, trust me" Gingrich as what he is, a hypocrite of the highest order, and Rick "look at my cool hair" Perry as simply a doofus.


Willard...er...Mitt should do well in New Hampshire, while Rick will feel right at home in South Carolina.  Ron has fringe appeal everywhere.  Of those, who is actually electable?  I'm guessing Willard Mitt. (Doh....I hate it when I do that!)  His past is liberal enough to be able to appeal to middle-of-the-roaders, and of course he has Wall Street money in his corner.  His buddies there are already salivating over their soon-to-be-swelled-even-more bonuses. Dom Perigone anyone?


Here's what concerns me:  If Republicans keep their majority in the House of Representatives and can gain control of the Senate (heaven forbid gaining a veto-proof 60 votes), AND see their nominee (Mitt?) win the White House, it will be seen as a mandate for the kind of hands-off / business-as-usual governing that gave us the economic debacle of '08.  The rich will get richer, while you and I....well, you know how that turned out.  Even with partisan politics being as rancorous as they are today, I think we need to split power between the parties.  The gridlock would be hell, but IMHO giving EITHER party a blank check to run the country as they saw fit would be even more disastrous.  What's so wrong with compromise?


What say you?


S