Nothing Has Changed

Sunday after church my wife and I went to the little restaurant near that still closed scene over there on the left. The Elba House is in the tiny village of the same name just up the road from Whitewater State Park.

It was all but deserted on a beautiful Sunday morning in mid-summer when the park is usually full and fishermen, campers, and families seek out the local cooking.The wait staff and others stood around looking for something to do and someone to help pay their wages. Over in Rochester and on the road up to the Twin Cities were signs blaming Governor Dayton while some graffiti artist had altered one to urge Dayton to tax the rich. Last week it appeared as if Dayton had made a move toward compromise but that was rejected by the Republicans since it still included tax increases.

Just as things are going in Washington.

Minnesota closing down will have significant impact if this continues much longer. It is already the longest such shutdown in recent memory in the United States-today was day 13.

Washington defaulting? That could have more than a significant impact. That could be a disaster. In the end, I am afraid, any ideology held to with such incredible tenacity and stubbornness is dangerous. Even good opinions are toxic when carried to an extreme that takes them beyond the impact to the particular individual who holds them. Democracy is built on the rule of the majority but also to be free from the "tyranny" of either side. Right now, democracy in the United States is looking less democratic than it has in a long time.

Of course there is tonight a semblance of hope on the national scene as Senate Majority Leader McConnell seems to be coming in the back door- which only makes the conservatives furious. No one will be happy and everyone will blame everyone else. Ah, for a quote from the Bard, this one seems to fit (at least in my mind):

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
--Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)

Or in paraphrase:

"The fault, dear Brutus [nation], is not in our stars [opponents],
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."