Final Thoughts on Decision 2010: The Tea Party Is Over

Over the next two days, we're going to attempt to boil down our thoughts on this year's election into two commentaries. Today, we're focusing more on those on the political right.

For all the hoopla, media coverage, and intensity - whether manufactured by folks like Karl Rove and Dick Armey, or occasionally genuine - the usefulness of the Tea Party to the Republican Party power structure is rapidly nearing its end.

We're not saying Republicans will fail tomorrow. We have no doubt that they'll pick up a measurable amount of congressional seats in this election. It's a mid-term election; the opposition almost always wins more seats than the party that has been in power. That many media outlets have been attempting to spin this as something new is dishonest, but sadly unsurprising.

What some pundits and political insiders - including the Republican leadership - are beginning to admit is something that we predicted would happen. The seats that these new members of Congress, new Governors, and others occupy won't be nearly as powerful as the most fervent far-right Tea Party supporters wish they were - and the change the Tea Partiers are hoping for is about as likely to occur as all of mankind being able to suddenly fly like birds. If you think most of the political amateurs who might win tomorrow are real fiscal conservatives, what you've been drinking is more likely kool-aid than tea.

Those wealthy individuals, corporations, and even foreign governments, who spent literally billions on this year's campaigns didn't just throw their money at politics because they were tired of buying things they didn't need. They were attempting to secure a permanent stranglehold on power. There is no way those same rich people are going to simply let political neophytes kick down the doors of their carefully constructed private world.

This isn't just hyperbole. Republican leaders of nearly every stripe have made it clear that their goals, once elected, aren't to help small businesses, or generate jobs for millions of unemployed workers. Their goal is political revenge. They've successfully ducked the issue of where they're going to make the massive budget cuts they've promised. They've "conveniently" not locked themselves into eliminating earmarks. They certainly won't be shrinking the size of government by eliminating government jobs, by cutting military bases in their districts, or attacking Social Security. They won't be able to roll back many, if any, of the provisions of the Health Care Insurance Reform. And they haven't said anything about re-instituting better regulation of Wall Street or campaign finance.

What Republican leaders have made clear is that they have only one goal: getting back into power, at any cost - then keeping it at any cost. This year, that included feeding their political appetites with the assistance of crazies on the far right. But now it's time to dispose of the Tea Bags, like they always do at their exclusive clubs when the main course is over.

All that will be left for true fiscal conservatives after this political meal are the post-election suckers.

Friday Funday: Something Worth Watching

Normally on Fridays, we tend to turn away from politics and other more serious topics, and we aim for a tone that's just a bit lighter.

Since the midterm election is coming up next Tuesday, we thought we'd compromise, somewhat, and focus on events that are both political - and a bit lighter.

Today, that means focusing on Jon Stewart's event in Washington, DC.

In case you were unaware, the third major political rally of this year is happening this weekend in Washington, DC, the semi-satirical "Rally To Restore Sanity." The first major political rally of this year was Glenn Beck's event, at the end of August. It was an event filled with angry Republicans and Tea Party members, many of whom were disappointed when Mr. Beck made the rally less overtly political than he'd led them to believe it would be.

The second, arguably larger rally, was the "One Nation" event, led by a combination of mostly liberal and progressive groups. While their rally was both more political and more diverse than Beck's event, the second rally still had a tinge of anger to it, primarily aimed towards those on the far right.

This weekend's rally is different, and we think possibly, more valuable to all of us.

At The Daily Felltoon, we often talk about serious subjects in our commentary. We try to do it in a relatively balanced way, that helps you, our audience, think about topics more deeply. Of course, Paul's cartoons are often the much-needed laugh that makes the serious subjects we all address seem not quite so ominous and scary. In that way, the entire Daily Felltoon newsletter ends up being somewhat like Mr. Stewart's "Daily Show".

The point that Mr. Stewart, and his fellow comedian, Mr. Colbert, are making this weekend with their mocking political rallies is actually one we discuss with each other, on a regular basis - and one we've mentioned here many times before.

No matter who wins next week - or next month, whenever they get done with the recounts - every American will still have something in common: we're all Americans. Most of us also want things in our country to get better, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else too. Things won't get that way if we're busy fighting with each, beating each other up, stomping on one another, or attempting to buy enough advertising to brainwash those who think differently than we do.

Americans voted for change, overwhelmingly two years ago - and most polls still think Americans want more change, not less. We want more jobs, better legislators, better schools, more just tax rates, and less debt than we have now. Even if things are better than when Mr. Obama took over, they're not good enough yet - and Americans want to change that.

As Jon Stewart - and we - point out daily, finding some humor amidst difficult subjects and discussing them sanely, even with those with whom we disagree, is a far better way to get through life than trying to bash in the skulls of those we disagree with.

For those of you enjoying the rally this weekend?
Have fun.

Something Truly Scary: Electronic Voting

As Halloween - and the midterm elections - approach, it seems that people everywhere are caught up in a game of one-upsmanship in the race to frighten us more. From political ads to scripted television shows, to the local news, it's a nearly constant stream of ghouls and ghosts and horrors.

For us, near the top of the list of truly scary things are those people who are heading to the polls and not thinking, simply voting the party line.

If they're attempting to vote via electronic voting machines, the thought gets even scarier.

We've warned for quite some time now that electronic voting machines - while a fantastic idea - are nowhere near secure enough for something as important as our elections. It's not an exaggeration to say that hackers from China and Iran, paid by undisclosed money from who-knows-where, could get into some of the electronic voting machines out there.

They've already attempted to do so in a controlled test.

Even so, millions of Americans, hypnotized by the bright screens and new technology, will march into their polling places over the next week, and like zombies, push the buttons for who they THINK they're voting for - and think everything is ok. Unfortunately, as polling stations open for early voting across the nation, voters and polling officials have discovered machines causing errors, switching votes, or simply losing votes altogether.

Not unsurprisingly, some political fanatics on the far right who have attempted to use the fear of nearly non-existant voter fraud in the past, have resurrected that tactic again this year with electronic voting.

Whatever you may think of the fanatics, like a broken analog clock in an old horror movie, even they can be right once in a while - though NOT in Nevada, as they're currently attempting to claim. While the nutcases may be paranoid about  electronic boogiemen, the danger to the voting system of unverifiable electronic ballots is sadly still very real.

In races all across the country, even the best electoral forecasters - including Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com - say that an unprecedented numbers of races could be decided by relatively small numbers of voters this year. As Nate tweeted yesterday, if Democrats outperform their poll numbers by as little as 2 points this year, they'll hold the House. If they underperform by two points, they'll give up 65 seats.

In the face of such terrifying basic uncertainty, we're almost certain there will also be a significantly greater than usual number of recounts - something impossible without verifiable paper ballots.

Our recommendation on how to fight the electronic voting zombies is simple: read the Daily Felltoon and the links we provide. Remain informed. And insist on a paper ballot, no matter what.

You might want to hang onto your sharpened pencil too - just in case.