I'm a populist; I'm no longer a Democrat.

[Agnosticsherbet]

166. Seems I missed another rant. Look, governing is messy. It is easy out here to

attack anything that doesn't fit perfectly with our ideology as evil. Sometimes, when we have a divided government, as ours is now, it is impossible to do the best thing, and we have to settle for what we can get.

If we get out and vote in a sufficient number of Democrats to control the Senate and take back the House, we will see better legislation. It will not be perfect, and probably will rarely ever be the best we can do. It will be better than what we do now.

If we cast a protest vote, or protest by not voting, it is quite possible that Republicans will have a good year, keep the House, and take the Senate.

In that case, it won't be cutting food stamps but gutting as much as possible the whole social safety net. We will see Republicans pass obscenities and the President veto them. The naked partisan warfare will escalate for the next to years while republicans try to damage democrats so badly that they can not win in 2016.

We have a two party, winner take all system. It is clunky and inefficient, as is any system designed for the 1700's would be 230 years its implementation. But it is what we have.