Think We're Divided Now? Wait 'till After November!

As we close in on the final days before the election, everyone's been eyeing the polls.  There's been an awful lot of liberal hand-wringing over GOP gains in the past week, especially by extreme Tea Party candidates.

Remember kids, brown people are SCARY!
But don't worry! Yellow people are okay.
So long as they don't take our jobs.

In spite of the civil rights gaffes and head stomping, Rand Paul appears to be a shoe in (no pun intended).  Thanks to the Kendrick Meek/Bill Clinton debacle in Florida, Tea Party darling Marco Rubio grows closer to that Senate seat every day.  In perhaps the most high-profile Senate race that doesn't involve anti-masturbation campaigns, one night stands, and TOO much information about a candidate's grooming habits,  Mason-Dixon Polling shows Sharron Angle is leading Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid by four points.  According to an article from the Christian Science Monitor, there are at least 9 Tea Party candidates who have a real shot at winning.  In the House, candidates like Tim Griffin, Justin Amash, Jesse Kelly and Steve Chabot are all within reach of victory.  In addition to the expected influx of extreme-right new blood, a lot of incumbents, like Sen. John McCain, have abandoned their moderate views and embraced their inner Tea Partier.

A House Divided...
There's no doubt that after the elections, the GOP Caucus in both houses of Congress will lean much more toward the conservative fringe.  However, most media outlets have spent so much time talking about Rep. John Boehner "picking out the curtains" that they're missing the other side of the story:  How are the elections of 2010 going to change the makeup of the Democratic party?

Until today.  The Daily Caller ran an interesting story about how the election is going to leave House Blue Dogs out in the cold.  According to Daily Caller blogger Alex Pappas, the Progressive Caucus has 76 members, 62 of which are not in danger of losing their seats.  This is a stark contrast to the Blue Dog's Caucus, which has 54 members with only 6 safe seats.

Assuming the most extreme scenario, where conservative Tea Party candidates win and the Blue Dogs lose in both houses of Congress, things are going to look mighty different.  Because there will be fewer opportunities for members of opposing parties to find common ground, expect an increase in the polarization of our political culture.  Think things are dirty and divided now?  Just you wait.

Liberals, Don't Despair!

This woman has $10 million
in her campaign coffers.
God Help Us All.

However, I have a crazy theory that might, as Sharon Angle is fond of saying, "take these lemons and make lemonaid" for progressives.  In spite of Pappas' fearful tone regarding the increased liberalization of House Democrats, the lefties that are in office now are not all that extreme.  They certainly hold more moderate, mainstream views than the Tea Party folks.

On the other hand, the Tea Party candidates are further right than right, and are pulling the Republican Party right along with them.  Crazy policy ideas like privatizing Social Security and other popular government programs with bipartisan support will not endear them to the American public.  Combine that with polarizing figures like Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell alienating Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike, the Liberals will be in a position to prove that they don't really have a "scary socialist agenda" and that their policies are much more reasonable for the welfare of the American people.

Is there a good chance that our Nation will have to suffer through the failure of extreme far-right policies?  Yes.  But perhaps this influx of far-right candidates will actually lead to the invalidation of their crazy policies, and the public will finally grow weary of the divisiveness of our political system and stop voting for certifiably insane politicians like Michele Bachmann.

Well, I can hope at least.

Remember folks:  DO YOUR CIVIC DUTY AND VOTE!  

(Just don't be too depressed if the crazies win...this time!)