**Jefferson's Parlor**

A Place for Contemplation of Democratic Political Philosophy and Its Meaning for Democratic Parties.......Now with Added Social Science!

Parlor image courtesy of Robert C. Lautman/Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.
To the Remembrance of Neda Agha-Soltan
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EDUCATION: Master’s Degree in Sociology; WORK EXPERIENCE: Case Worker, Researcher, Teacher, Supervisor, Assistant Manager, Actor, Janitor, Busboy, Day Laborer; COUNTRIES I HAVE VISITED: Austria, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Egypt, Thailand, China, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay; FAMILY: Father from Ukraine, Mother from USA, wife from Colombia, one brother and one sister; LANGUAGES: English, Spanish and German [although my German is "rusty"]; CITIZENSHIP: USA. My wife, who is an artist, drew the picture at left in 1996. I had hair on top back then. Now it grows out of my ears and nose instead. OF ALL THE THINGS I HAVE DONE IN MY LIFE, I am proudest of this blog. I hope someone reads it!

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

I'm Not Dead Yet!

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.