Since my last post here, I have been posting and commenting more at www.dailykos.com. In the interim, President Obama has been re-elected. This is good. But there is still a group of Tea Party Republicans [TPR] in our Congress sufficiently large to obstruct any progress, and even any compromise toward progress. This is our current problem in the U.S. No political system is perfect. The TPR have exposed our weakness. A group that refuses to compromise can tie up anything. It's even worse when they are so ideologically absolutist that even the harmful results of inflexibility do not give them pause. If our economy collapses, it seems that they will rejoice.
It is possible that the TPR will be marginalized by Republicans willing to compromise. This is my hope, but it remains to be seen.
In any event, this standoff cannot proceed forever. Eventually, reality will kick people in the ass. The question is how much more damage will have been done in the meantime.