Fiscal Cliff Averted? Republicans Cave and a New Era in America Gains Momentum

People bitch about Washington politicians not being able to govern effectively but we all know it’s a portion of them who have been jamming up the works. And after all their chest-beating, Republicans have budged an inch, giving way on issues that they originally used as absolute deal-breakers. Whether the deal will go through or not is hard to say. 

Pennsylvania Republican Representative Charlie Dent said he wouldn’t give his final opinion until he had read the deal properly but it was better than the alternative. (NYTimes.com)  I wonder where the hell he’s been all this time. The alternative has been in everyone’s faces for a long time. Democrat Senator Tom Harking said he thought President Obama should have negotiated a tougher deal. 

I wonder where he’s been all this time. It's impossible to negotiate with people who have too much power and have got away with abusing it for so long and not taking responsibility that they believe they can do it forever. They lose sight of normality. They sacrifice anything and everything to hold onto their power, and gamble with other people's lives because they don't believe they can lose. 

Love is blind and when you're in love with yourself it's especially so. People accuse Obama of not playing a better hand, but he’s not a poker player, he’s a President. He behaves like a responsible, rational adult and he takes his job seriously. Republicans in Congress, on the other hand, aren’t responsible adults and they aren’t even good poker players. They’ve gambled, believing they couldn’t lose. 

And they just lost. Just as Republicans lost the elections. Even if the deal doesn’t go through they lost. I know it isn't the big, effective deal it should have been, and that's disappointing and maddening. But given what Republicans in Congress have become, I think in some ways it's a real victory because it signals the end of an era where they could do whatever the hell they wanted and escape the consequence.

They'll never again be able to regain the stranglehold they've had on America up until now. I believe sanity is gaining momentum in America. Democracy works. It’s cumbersome, and it takes longer than anybody wants it to, but it works. The new era signalled by Barack Obama becoming President - the second American Revolution - continues to gain momentum. American society is healing from the years of abuse. It always happens, it’s what societies do.

Exciting times we live in.