Hankster:

I agree with you that we need to have at least two parties on the ballot. I would hate to see either party have absolute power. The good news is the pendulum always shifts. I'm old enough to remember times when both parties appeared to be on the rocks, but they always bounce back. I'm sure the Rs will pick up a lot of seats in the next election and that’s probably a good thing.

It does seem to me that the American people are quicker to become unhappy than in the past. Look at Bush's popularity numbers. Now look at polls that find Obama steadily losing popularity and congress even more so.

We are a people who are not happy with where we were going. We didn’t like where Bush was going, and we don’t like where Obama is headed. I don’t know what it will take to make us happy. It may not be possible. I very much doubt McCain would have fared better. Of course we will never know. I just hope we don’t get so disenchanted we elect some complete whack job.

I fear that as world and domestic problems grow our unhappiness will as well. I believe whoever is in power for the foreseeable future will face an ever more divided electorate. Someone will have to tackle our deficit and the solution is sure to cause pain, maybe enormous pain.

Not very long ago there was talk of the collapse of the Republican Party. That won’t happen, nor will the Democrats go away. But with the enormous scope of problems both domestic and global no one is going to make us feel all warm and fuzzy anytime soon.